BIDS Extension Proposal 40 (BEP040): fUSI-BIDS

Abstract

This specification extends the Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) Specification for functional ultrasound imaging (fUSI) of the brain. The fUSI-BIDS specification is designed to standardize collections of ultrafast power Doppler scans acquired using any functional ultrasound imaging system. The ultrafast power Doppler signal is quite similar to the BOLD signal as measured by fMRI but is rather proportional to the amount of red blood cells in each voxel at any given time, thus giving an information on cerebral blood volume (CBV). Although other modalities, e.g. color Doppler, can be acquired using fUSI systems the addition of these to the specification is not targeted a priori and should be discussed. We expect the specification to be modular, so as to accommodate potential additional modalities in future iterations.