Atlas based multichannel monitoring of functional MRI signals in real time: Automated approach
We report an automated method to simultaneously monitor blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) MR signals from multiple cortical areas in real time. Individual brain anatomy was normalized and registered to a pre segmented atlas in standardized anatomical space. Subsequently, using real time fMRI (rtfMRI) data acquisition, localized BOLD signals were measured and displayed from user selected areas labeled with anatomical and Brodmann's Area (BA) nomenclature. The method was tested on healthy volunteers during the performance of hand motor and internal speech generation tasks employing a trial based design. Our data normalization and registration algorithm, along with image reconstruction, movement correction and a data display routine were executed with enough processing and communication bandwidth necessary for real time operation. Task specific BOLD signals were observed from the hand motor and language areas. One of the study participants was allowed to freely engage in hand clenching tasks, and associated brain activities were detected from the motor related neural substrates without prior knowledge of the task onset time. The proposed method may be applied to various applications such as neurofeedback, brain computer interface, and functional mapping for surgical planning where real time monitoring of region specific brain activity is needed. Hum Brain Mapp 2008. (c) 2007 Wiley Liss, Inc.
Human brain mapping