ECHO-VOLUMAR IMAGING (EVI) OF THE BRAIN AT 3.0 T - FIRST NORMAL VOLUNTEER AND FUNCTIONAL IMAGING RESULTS

Objective: Our goal was to present the first echo-volumar brain images obtained at 3.0 volumar imaging. Materials and Methods: The results p resented were obtained on volunteers using an in-house designed and co nstructed 3.0 T echo-planar/volumar imager. Results: The results demon strate the feasibility of obtaining snapshot volumar images comprising up to 64 x 64 x 8 voxels corresponding to a spatial resolution of 3.0 x 3.0 x 2.5 mm(3). Results are also presented showing local cortical changes in signal in response to an external visual stimulus for both the left and the right brain hemispheres. Conclusion: The snapshot acq uisition of a whole-volume data set has a number of advantages when co nsidering motional effects or functional image changes that may involv e time delays or phase effects within different cortical regions. Inst antaneous acquisition of the whole data set means accurate phase infor mation may be straightforwardly obtained.