Structural and functional quantitative susceptibility mapping from standard fMRI studies

Standard functional MRI (fMRI), which includes resting-state or paradigm-driven designs, is widely used in studies of brain function, aging, and disease. These fMRI studies typically use two-dimensional gradient echo-planar imaging, which inherently contains phase data that enables quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM). This work focuses on the dual value of QSM within fMRI studies, by providing both a localized analysis of functional changes in activated tissue, and iron-sensitive structural maps in deep grey matter (DGM). Using a visual paradigm fMRI study on healthy volunteers at clinical (1.5 T) and high field strength (4.7 T), we perform functional analysis of magnitude and QSM time series, and at the same time harness structural QSM of iron-rich DGM, including globus pallidus, putamen, caudate head, substantia nigra, and red nucleus. The effects of fMRI spatial resolution and time series variation on structural DGM QSM are investigated. Our results indicate that structural DGM QSM is feasible within existing fMRI studies, provided that the voxel dimensions are equal to or less than 3 mm, with higher resolutions preferred. The mean DGM QSM values were about 40 to 220 ppb, while the interquartile ranges of the DGM QSM time series varied from about 3 to 9 ppb, depending on structure and resolution. In contrast, the peak voxel functional QSM (fQSM) changes in activated visual cortex ranged from about -10 to -30 ppb, and functional clusters were consistently smaller on QSM than magnitude fMRI. Mean-level DGM QSM of the time series was successfully extracted in all cases, while fQSM results were more prone to residual background fields and showed less functional change compared with standard magnitude fMRI. Under the conditions prescribed, standard fMRI studies may be used for robust mean-level DGM QSM, enabling study of DGM iron accumulation, in addition to functional analysis. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.