Tailored reconstruction for high-resolution 3D-EPI at high and ultra-high fields

Motivation: 3D-EPI is paramount for ultra-high-resolution fMRI. fMRI gains at higher fields are detrimentally accompanied by increases in field inhomogeneities and shorter T2*s, often necessitating numerous image segmentations to encode a single volume, increasing acquisition times and obscuring the desired biology. Goal(s): Use a concatenation of tailored image reconstruction tools to demonstrate improved image quality compared to the stock vendor reconstruction. Approach: DORK, NORDIC, self-navigated 3D-EPI, POCS, and SENSE-1 reconstruction are combined to reconstruct high-resolution 3D-EPI. The reconstruction pipeline is evaluated using 0.35-0.65mm isotropic data. Results: The combined ensemble of technologies provides superior images compared to the default vendor reconstruction. Impact: Tailored image reconstructions with our proposed approach, addresses thermal and physiological noise effects, whereby enabling reliable ultra-high-resolution fMRI from ultra-high field scanners, with the prospect of reaching the goals of the BRAIN initiative working group.