Clinical Applications of Resting State Functional Connectivity

Overview

Journal Front Syst Neurosci

Specialty Neurology

Date 2010 Jul 2

PMID 20592951

Citations 591

Authors

Michael D Fox

Michael Greicius

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

During resting conditions the brain remains functionally and metabolically active. One manifestation of this activity that has become an important research tool is spontaneous fluctuations in the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The identification of correlation patterns in these spontaneous fluctuations has been termed resting state functional connectivity (fcMRI) and has the potential to greatly increase the translation of fMRI into clinical care. In this article we review the advantages of the resting state signal for clinical applications including detailed discussion of signal to noise considerations. We include guidelines for performing resting state research on clinical populations, outline the different areas for clinical application, and identify important barriers to be addressed to facilitate the translation of resting state fcMRI into the clinical realm.

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