Echo-planar imaging (EPI)-based BOLD fMRI is the most widely used technology for neuroimaging studies. However, it suffers from signal dropouts and image distortions that impair imaging in specific brain regions, such as anterior temporal lobe and orbitofrontal cortex. The susceptibility artifact becomes severe at ultrahigh magnetic fields, e.g. 7T. A unique case of the SSFP-FID sequence, termed integrated-SSFP (iSSFP), was proposed to overcome the obstacle [1, 2]. In this study, we first investigated the signal characteristics of iSSFP based fMRI in response to visual cortex activation through comparison with balanced SSFP (bSSFP) and traditional gradient echo (GRE) imaging. We then tested the feasibility for detecting functional activation in the temporal lobe with reduced susceptibility artifacts using the iSSFP sequence in conjunction with multiband (MB) accelerated acquisition. Anterior temporal lobe, which is severely affected by susceptibility artifacts, is an important brain area for semantic processing [3].The iSSFP sequence was modified from bSSFP by placing a gradient along the readout axis to dephase the spins across a 2π cycle within one voxel. The advantage of iSSFP includes removing banding artifact while preserving the T2/T1 contrast of bSSFP. Integrated SSFP can be combined with MB imaging with CAIPIRINHA for accelerated acquisition while MB bSSFP remains challenging due to shifted off-resonance signal profiles. Experiments were performed on a 7 Tesla Siemens whole-body Magnetom system with a volume excitation 32-channel Nova Medical head coil. In experiment one, a block-design visual stimulation with dark-gray and light-gray checkerboard flashing at 8 Hz was used for task fMRI scans. Ten healthy subjects (21-25 years old, 5 males) were scanned using the iSSFP sequence in comparison with bSSFP and GRE (five subjects for each) sequences. The imaging parameters of iSSFP and bSSFP were: single slice with the resolution of 1.72*1.72*5mm³, FOV of 220*220mm², Flip angles of 25°, TE/TR of 4.94/9.88ms, readout bandwidth of 130 Hz/pixel. For comparison, a GRE sequence was performed with the flip angle of 8° (Ernst angle) for TE/TR of 4.94/11ms. In Exp. 2, MB accelerated iSSFP and standard 2D EPI were performed using a semantic processing task fMRI to detect the anterior temporal lobe activation [3]. The imaging parameters were: 8 slices with the resolution of 1.72*1.72*4mm³, FOV of 220*220 mm², Flip angles of 25° and 85°, and total scan time for each volume of 3s and 2s, respectively. An MB factor of 4 was applied for iSSFP fMRI. In this fMRI experiment, six subjects performed semantic task versus size task to Chinese characters in on/off (18/18s) blocks. One session of EPI and three sessions of iSSFP data were collected. The data analysis was performed using the software package of MATLAB 2012a and SPM8. The Bloch equation simulation in Fig.1 shows constant magnitude of the iSSFP signal regardless of the frequency shift, indicating insensitivity to susceptibility artifacts. The fMRI maps for visual cortex activation from one representative subject, obtained by iSSFP, bSSFP and GRE respectively, are presented in Fig. 2. Although the bSSFP sequence presents higher signal change, it suffers from banding artifacts and larger signal variation (standard deviation). The signal change of GRE is slightly lower than that of iSSFP. Four corresponding images of the EPI and multiband iSSFP along with group activation results in Exp. 2 are shown in Fig.3. In comparison with EPI, which is seriously affected by susceptibility artifacts, the anterior temporal lobe can be clearly visualized using iSSFP. Greater activations within the inferior portion of the anterior temporal lobe were detected by multiband iSSFP compared to EPI fMRI.The iSSFP sequence accelerated by the multiband technique offers an alternative method for functional MRI with reduced susceptibility artifacts at 7T. Although, in comparison with EPI, the sensitivity of the iSSFP to neural activation is lower, it is suitable for specific fMRI applications to visualize activations in temporal and orbitofrontal cortices at high and ultrahigh magnetic fields.