FUNCTIONAL MRI OF THE ACTIVATED HUMAN VISUAL-CORTEX

We explored the possibility of performing functional magnetic resonanc e imaging of visual evoked response in the primary visual cortex with a clinical MRI imager of 1.5 tesla. Gradient echo pulse sequence was c hosen to acquire the functional image and binocular flash visual stimu lation by light-proof goggles containing light emitting diodes was use d as the source of cerebral activation. Data processing was performed utilizing direct subtraction for averaged images, correlation coeffici ent, statistical parametric mapping and matched filter. Of those metho ds, correlation coefficient and statistic parametric mapping proved to be the methods of choice in our study.