Which functional magnetic resonance imaging sequence is most suited for neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation?

Background: The accuracy of stereotaxic frameless neuronavigation for transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) may dependent on the spatial validity of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) sequences. Nearly all fMRI studies use a gradient echo (GRE) sequence which, in contrast to spin echo (SE) and arterial spin labeling (ASL), provides a better contrast-to-noise ratio but is prone to be shifted to veins. We tested the hypothesis (i) that the functional localisation of the motor area depends on the fMRI sequence used to detect neuronal activity and (ii) that TMS of the different peak voxels assessed by th…