The objective of this project is to develop a new method, adaptive functional magnetic resonance imaging (MR), to enable the precise spatial localization of human brain function. The intended application of this method is the preoperative planning and intraoperative guidance of neurosurgical interventions. The clinical significance of this work is that it will create a new instrument to minimize post-operative functional deficits for surgical patients. The hypothesis is that dynamically adaptive MRI can perform whole-brain functional mapping at 1.5mm isotropic resolution while still maintaining clinically practical imaging times of less than 15 minutes.
The specific aims to test this hypothesis are: (1) To develop imaging sequences that are both suitable for functional MRI and compatible with the requirements of dynamically adaptive MRI; (2) To develop real-time protocols to enable the necessary computer-scanner interaction to meet the requirements of dynamically adaptive imaging; (3) To develop software for real-time processing and display of fMRI data in a dynamically adaptive environment; (4) To develop algorithms for dynamically adaptive MRI based on a multi-resolution zooming approach; (5) To optimize the multi-resolution adaptive fMRI method and to evaluate performance with respect to conventional fMRI; and (6) To apply dynamically adaptive fMRI for neurosurgical planning and, to evaluate it with respect to its precision and accuracy for localizing function. Real-time adaptive imaging is a methodology that modifies the image acquisition strategy """"""""on-line"""""""" as an examination proceeds in order to tailor it to each individual brain and then zoom-in on local sites of activation. The long-term goal of this project is to fully develop this methodology in order to provide the surgeon with a versatile and powerful technological tool (comprising new methods, hardware and software) to enhance the planning, guiding and monitoring of neurosurgical interventions.
