Pseudo-inverse constrained (PICO) reconstruction reduces colored noise of PROPELLER and improves the gray-white matter differentiation

Abstract

The image quality of Periodically Rotated Overlapping ParallEL Lines with Enhanced Reconstruction (PROPELLER) MRI is degraded by the “colored noise” or “blue noise”. Total variation (TV) denoising is expected to reduce colored noise and improve the overall image quality. However, no study has compared different TV algorithms for reducing colored noise. This study explores two TV denoising methods: (1) image domain denoising (IDD), and (2) Pseudo-Inverse COnstrained (PICO) reconstruction. Comparing these two TV denoising methods, PICO significantly reduces the noise level of PROPELLER and improves the gray-white matter differentiation