Simultaneous EEG-CBV (Electroencephalography – Cerebral Blood Volume) measurements of epileptic spikes

Background: Simultaneous EEG and VASO (Vascular Space Occupancy) imaging can be used to characterize CBV (cerebral blood volume) changes during interictal epileptic discharges (IED’s). However, the VASO sequence causes more RF pulse artifacts in the EEG than spin-echo or gradient-echo functional MRI (fMRI) sequences, because the global inversion pulses in the VASO sequence require higher RF power than slice selection pulses. In a previous research, we found that most RF pulse artifacts are generated at the interface between carbon and metal components. In this research, we compared the RF artifacts generated by different types of carbon wire to metal wire connections. We also conducted a feasibility study of simultaneous EEG-CBV measurements.