Rapid High Resolution Integrated Structural and Functional Susceptibility and Conductivity Mapping in the Human Brain

Motivation: Quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM), electrical conductivity mapping (EPT) and fMRI show promise in characterising neurodegenerative diseases but each currently needs a separate time-consuming acquisition. Goal(s): To develop a single, rapid acquisition for simultaneous structural and functional QSM and EPT, providing multi-modal contrasts to facilitate development of biomarkers for neurological diseases. Approach: We developed a multi-echo 2D EPI sequence with 1.3 mm isotropic resolution and 4.02 s TR enabling acquisition of 70 timepoints in 6 min 15 s. We optimised QSM, EPT and fQSM reconstruction pipelines. Results: We obtained high-quality structural QSM and EPT, alongside fMRI and fQSM activations from a visual stimulus. Impact: Demonstrating that this efficient multi-echo EPI acquisition rapidly produces high-quality simultaneous QSM, fQSM and EPT reconstructions alongside conventional T2*-weighted, SWI and fMRI contrasts in 6 min 15 s will allow it to be incorporated into clinical studies of neurodegenerative diseases.