A circular echo planar sequence for fast volumetric fMRI

Purpose: To demonstrate a circular EPI (CEPI) sequence as well as a generalized EPI reconstruction for fast fMRI with parallel imaging acceleration. Methods: The CEPI acquisition was constructed using variable readout lengths and maximum ramp sampling as well as blipped-CAIPI z-gradient encoding for simultaneous multislice (SMS) and 3D volumetric imaging. A signal equation model with constant and linear phase terms was used to iteratively reconstruct images with low ghosting. Simulation, phantom, and human imaging experiments including audio/visual fMRI were performed at 3T using a 52-channel coil. Results: Application of CEPI gradients with duration of 27 ms covering a 22-cm FOV at a 64 x 64 pixel resolution in SMS and 3D acquisitions resulted in images with comparable quality to those of standard Cartesian EPI. With parallel imaging techniques robust detection of BOLD fMRI activation with temporal sampling down to 275 ms was possible. The high temporal resolution enabled higher activation statistics at a penalty in increased noise and residual aliasing. The un-accelerated 3D acquisition showed large temporal instability compared with a standard 2D acquisition. Conclusion: Nonuniform sampling and generalized image reconstructions can be applied to EPI acquisitions including those with blipped-CAIPI z gradients. The same gradients can be used for either SMS or 3D acquisitions providing identical coverage.