Systematic evaluation of adhesives for implant fixation in multimodal functional brain MRI

Invasive multimodal fMRI in rodents is often compromised by susceptibility artifacts from adhesives used to secure cranial implants. We hypothesized that adhesive type, shape, and field strength significantly affect susceptibility artifacts, and systematically evaluated various adhesives. Thirty-one adhesives were applied in constrained/unconstrained geometries and imaged with T2*-weighted EPI at 7.0 and 9.4 T to assess artifact depths. Spherical and flat patch shapes, both unconstrained geometries, were compared for artifact depth in vitro and in vivo. Adhesion strength was assessed on post-mortem mouse crania. Finally, an integrative scoring system rated adhesive properties, including artifact depth, handling, and adhesion strength. Susceptibility artifacts were two times larger at 9.4 than at 7.0 T (p