A Densely Interconnected Network for Deep Learning Accelerated MRI
Objective: To improve accelerated MRI reconstruction through a densely connected cascading deep learning reconstruction framework. Materials and Methods: A cascading deep learning reconstruction framework (baseline model) was modified by applying three architectural modifications: Input-level dense connections between cascade inputs and outputs, an improved deep learning sub-network, and long-range skip-connections between subsequent deep learning networks. An ablation study was performed, where five model configurations were trained on the NYU fastMRI neuro dataset with an end-to-end scheme conjunct on four- and eight-fold acceleration. The trained models were evaluated by comparing their respective structural similarity index measure (SSIM), normalized mean square error (NMSE) and peak signal to noise ratio (PSNR). Results: The proposed densely interconnected residual cascading network (DIRCN), utilizing all three suggested modifications, achieved a SSIM improvement of 8 For eight-fold acceleration, the model achieved a 23 compared to the baseline model. In an ablation study, the individual architectural modifications all contributed to this improvement, by reducing the SSIM and NMSE with approximately 3 respectively. Conclusion: The proposed architectural modifications allow for simple adjustments on an already existing cascading framework to further improve the resulting reconstructions.
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