Reischauer Carolin, Gutzeit Andreas
Institute of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Clinical Research Unit, Hirslanden Hospital St. Anna, Lucerne, Switzerland.
Institute for Biomedical Engineering, ETH and University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
PLoS One. 2017 Apr 5;12(4):e0175106. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0175106. eCollection 2017.
Applicability of intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging in the clinical setting is hampered by the limited reliability in particular of the perfusion-related parameter estimates. To alleviate this problem, various advanced postprocessing methods have been introduced. However, the underlying algorithms are not readily available and generally suffer from an increased computational burden. Contrary, several computationally fast image denoising methods have recently been proposed which are accessible online and may improve reliability of IVIM parameter estimates. The objective of the present work is to investigate the impact of image denoising on accuracy and precision of IVIM parameter estimates using comprehensive in-silico and in-vivo experiments. Image denoising is performed with four different algorithms that work on magnitude data: two algorithms which are based on nonlocal means (NLM) filtering, one algorithm that relies on local principal component analysis (LPCA) of the diffusion-weighted images, and another algorithms that exploits joint rank and edge constraints (JREC). Accuracy and precision of IVIM parameter estimates is investigated in an in-silico brain phantom and an in-vivo ground truth as a function of the signal-to-noise ratio for spatially homogenous and inhomogenous levels of Rician noise. Moreover, precision is evaluated using bootstrap analysis of in-vivo measurements. In the experiments, IVIM parameters are computed a) by using a segmented fit method and b) by performing a biexponential fit of the entire attenuation curve based on nonlinear least squares estimates. Irrespective of the fit method, the results demonstrate that reliability of IVIM parameter estimates is substantially improved by image denoising. The experiments show that the LPCA and the JREC algorithms perform in a similar manner and outperform the NLM-related methods. Relative to noisy data, accuracy of the IVIM parameters in the in-silico phantom improves after image denoising by 76-79%, 79-81%, 84-99% and precision by 74-80%, 80-83%, 84-95% for the perfusion fraction, the diffusion coefficient, and the pseudodiffusion coefficient, respectively, when the segmented fit method is used. Beyond that, the simulations reveal that denoising performance is not impeded by spatially inhomogeneous levels of Rician noise in the image. Since all investigated algorithms are freely available and work on magnitude data they can be readily applied in the clinical setting which may foster transition of IVIM imaging into clinical practice.
体素内不相干运动(IVIM)成像在临床环境中的应用受到限制,尤其是灌注相关参数估计的可靠性有限。为缓解这一问题,已引入各种先进的后处理方法。然而,其底层算法不易获取,且通常计算负担较重。相反,最近提出了几种计算速度快的图像去噪方法,这些方法可在线获取,可能会提高IVIM参数估计的可靠性。本研究的目的是通过全面的计算机模拟和体内实验,研究图像去噪对IVIM参数估计的准确性和精密度的影响。使用四种处理幅度数据的不同算法进行图像去噪:两种基于非局部均值(NLM)滤波的算法、一种依赖于扩散加权图像的局部主成分分析(LPCA)的算法,以及另一种利用联合秩和边缘约束(JREC)的算法。在计算机模拟脑模型和体内真实数据中,研究IVIM参数估计的准确性和精密度与莱斯噪声在空间上均匀和不均匀水平下的信噪比的函数关系。此外,使用体内测量的自助分析来评估精密度。在实验中,IVIM参数通过以下两种方式计算:a)使用分段拟合方法,b)基于非线性最小二乘估计对整个衰减曲线进行双指数拟合。无论采用哪种拟合方法,结果都表明图像去噪可显著提高IVIM参数估计的可靠性。实验表明,LPCA和JREC算法的表现相似,且优于与NLM相关的方法。相对于噪声数据,当使用分段拟合方法时,计算机模拟模型中IVIM参数的准确性在图像去噪后分别提高了76 - 79%、79 - 81%、84 - 99%,精密度分别提高了74 - 80%、80 - 83%、84 - 95%,分别对应灌注分数、扩散系数和伪扩散系数。此外,模拟结果表明,图像中莱斯噪声的空间不均匀水平不会妨碍去噪性能。由于所有研究算法均可免费获取且处理幅度数据,它们可轻松应用于临床环境,这可能会促进IVIM成像向临床实践的转变。