Dynamic magnetic resonance inverse imaging of human brain function

MRI is widely used for noninvasive hemodynamic-based functional brain imaging. In traditional spatial encoding, however, gradient switching limits the temporal resolution, which makes it difficult to unambiguously identify possible fast nonhemodynamic changes. In this paper we propose a novel reconstruction approach, called dynamic inverse imaging (InI), that is capable of providing millisecond temporal resolution when highly parallel detection is used. To achieve an order-of-magnitude speedup in generating time-resolved contrast estimates and dynamic statistical parametric maps (dSPMs), the spatial information is derived from an array of detectors rather than by time-consuming gradient-encoding methods. The InI approach was inspired by electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) source localization techniques. Dynamic MR InI was evaluated by means of numerical simulations. InI was also applied to measure BOLD hemodynamic time curves at 20-ms temporal resolution in a visual stimulation experiment using a 90-channel head array. InI is expected to improve the time resolution of MRI and provide increased flexibility in the trade-off between spatial and temporal resolution for studies of dynamic activation patterns in the human brain.