Fast Voxelwise SNR Estimation for Iterative MRI Reconstructions

Fuente: arXiv
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Autori principali: Dalmaz, Onat, Abraham, Daniel, Toews, Alexander R., Chaudhari, Akshay S., Setsompop, Kawin, Hargreaves, Brian A.
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2026
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author Dalmaz, Onat
Abraham, Daniel
Toews, Alexander R.
Chaudhari, Akshay S.
Setsompop, Kawin
Hargreaves, Brian A.
author_facet Dalmaz, Onat
Abraham, Daniel
Toews, Alexander R.
Chaudhari, Akshay S.
Setsompop, Kawin
Hargreaves, Brian A.
contents Purpose: To develop a fast, general-purpose framework for voxelwise noise characterization in linear and nonlinear iterative MRI reconstructions, recovering the image-domain noise variance from which SNR, $g$-factor, and related image-quality metrics are derived. The framework addresses both the intractability of closed-form formulas beyond Cartesian sampling and the long runtime of Pseudo Multiple Replica (PMR) methods. Methods: We propose PICO (Probing Image-space COvariance), an estimator that operates in the image domain by probing the image-domain noise covariance operator -- or, for nonlinear compressed-sensing reconstructions, the Jacobian of the converged solution -- with random probe images. Complex random-phase probes are shown theoretically and empirically to minimize estimator variance compared with Gaussian or real-valued alternatives. PICO was validated against analytical benchmarks and high-replica PMR references using retrospective Cartesian knee data ($R=2$), prospective non-Cartesian spiral brain phantom data ($R=2,3,4$), and compressed-sensing knee reconstructions ($R=2$). Results: In Cartesian experiments, PICO accurately reproduced analytical SENSE $g$-factor maps. In non-Cartesian spiral imaging ($R=2$), it achieved 1% estimation error in 64 s compared with 462 s for PMR (approximately 7.2x speedup), with the efficiency advantage persisting at higher acceleration. For nonlinear compressed sensing, the Jacobian-based estimator produced noise maps consistent with PMR while converging faster (52 s vs. 95 s; approximately 1.8x speedup). Conclusion: PICO provides a computationally efficient alternative to PMR for voxelwise noise and $g$-factor estimation across generalized iterative MRI reconstructions. By reusing existing reconstruction primitives, it enables voxelwise noise maps to be produced as a routine by-product of the reconstruction pipeline.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_09590
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fast Voxelwise SNR Estimation for Iterative MRI Reconstructions
Dalmaz, Onat
Abraham, Daniel
Toews, Alexander R.
Chaudhari, Akshay S.
Setsompop, Kawin
Hargreaves, Brian A.
Signal Processing
92C55, 65F10, 65C05, 94A12
Purpose: To develop a fast, general-purpose framework for voxelwise noise characterization in linear and nonlinear iterative MRI reconstructions, recovering the image-domain noise variance from which SNR, $g$-factor, and related image-quality metrics are derived. The framework addresses both the intractability of closed-form formulas beyond Cartesian sampling and the long runtime of Pseudo Multiple Replica (PMR) methods. Methods: We propose PICO (Probing Image-space COvariance), an estimator that operates in the image domain by probing the image-domain noise covariance operator -- or, for nonlinear compressed-sensing reconstructions, the Jacobian of the converged solution -- with random probe images. Complex random-phase probes are shown theoretically and empirically to minimize estimator variance compared with Gaussian or real-valued alternatives. PICO was validated against analytical benchmarks and high-replica PMR references using retrospective Cartesian knee data ($R=2$), prospective non-Cartesian spiral brain phantom data ($R=2,3,4$), and compressed-sensing knee reconstructions ($R=2$). Results: In Cartesian experiments, PICO accurately reproduced analytical SENSE $g$-factor maps. In non-Cartesian spiral imaging ($R=2$), it achieved 1% estimation error in 64 s compared with 462 s for PMR (approximately 7.2x speedup), with the efficiency advantage persisting at higher acceleration. For nonlinear compressed sensing, the Jacobian-based estimator produced noise maps consistent with PMR while converging faster (52 s vs. 95 s; approximately 1.8x speedup). Conclusion: PICO provides a computationally efficient alternative to PMR for voxelwise noise and $g$-factor estimation across generalized iterative MRI reconstructions. By reusing existing reconstruction primitives, it enables voxelwise noise maps to be produced as a routine by-product of the reconstruction pipeline.
title Fast Voxelwise SNR Estimation for Iterative MRI Reconstructions
topic Signal Processing
92C55, 65F10, 65C05, 94A12
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.09590