Investigating Bone Cement Susceptibility Related Artifacts and Adhesion
Abstract
Blood Oxygen Level Dependent (BOLD) functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) utilizes pulse sequences sensitive to changes in concentration of deoxyhemoglobin to indirectly measure neural activity. Sequences used for BOLD are sensitive to magnetic susceptibility differences that may cause signal voids. Our lab has designed an awake marmoset head coil that eliminates confounds associated with imaging an animal under anesthesia. This design requires a head chamber attached to an animal’s skull with a cement that may cause a susceptibility artifact. Motivation behind this project was to find an MRI compatible cement that remains secure to the skull with minimal artifacts. Four commercially available cements DuoLink Universal, BisFil, BisCem and CoreFlo DC were scanned with Spin-Echo (SE), Gradient-Echo (GE), and Gradient-Echo Echo Planar Imaging (GE-EPI) sequences on brain mimicking phantoms. Additionally, each cement was attached to bone and attempted to be removed. Only CoreFlo DC passed both criteria, being deemed MR compatible.