Improved brain stimulation targeting by optimising image acquisition parameters

Abstract

Functional connectivity analysis from rs-fMRI data has been used for determining cortical targets in therapeutic applications of non-invasive brain stimulation using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Reliable connectivity measures are therefore essential for every rs-fMRI-based TMS targeting approach. Here, we examine the effect of echo time (TE) on the reproducibility and spatial variability of resting-state connectivity measures. We acquired multiple runs of single-echo fMRI data with either short (TE = 30 ms) or long (TE = 38 ms) echo time to investigate inter-run spatial reproducibility of a clinically relevant functional connectivity map, i.e., originating from the sgACC. We find that connectivity maps obtained from TE = 38 ms rs-fMRI data are significantly more reliable than those obtained from TE = 30 ms data sets. Our results clearly show that optimizing sequence parameters can be beneficial for ensuring high-reliability resting-state acquisition protocols to be used for TMS targeting. The differences between reliability in connectivity measures for different TEs could inform future clinical research in optimising MR sequences.