International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.
Abstract
Proton density-weighted fMRI studies have been carried out in spinal cord in the current study. We compared the spinal cord activation produced by handgripping
sensorimotor task and electro-acupuncture stimulation. Activation was detected in both cases localized at spinal levels C6-C7 (11/14 in
sensorimotor and 7/11 in acupuncture stimulation). It was observed that the amount of activation in sensorimotor task was in general greater than in electroacupuncture
stimulation. The percentage signal changes were found to be similar. Our results indicate that proton density-weighted fMRI in low field MRI
system can be used for sensorimotor and acupuncture pathway research.published_or_final_versio
