Deep image prior cine MR fingerprinting with B₁ ⁺ spin history correction

To develop a deep image prior (DIP) reconstruction for B₁ ⁺ -corrected 2D cine MR fingerprinting (MRF).

The proposed method combines low-rank (LR) modeling with a DIP to generate cardiac phase-resolved parameter maps without motion correction, employing self-supervised training to enforce consistency with undersampled spiral k-space data. Two implementations were tested: one approach (DIP) for cine T₁ , T₂ , and M₀ mapping, and a second approach (DIP with effective B₁ ⁺ estimation [DIP-B1]) that also generated an effective B₁ ⁺ map to correct for errors due to RF transmit inhomogeneities, through-plane motion, and blood flow. Cine MRF data were acquired in 14 healthy subjects and four reconstructions were compared: LR, low-rank motion-corrected (LRMC), DIP, and DIP-B1. Results were compared to diastolic ECG-triggered MRF, MOLLI, and T₂ -prep bSSFP. Additionally, bright-blood and dark-blood images calculated from cine MRF maps were used to quantify ventricular function and compared to reference cine measurements.

DIP and DIP-B1 outperformed other cine MRF reconstructions with improved noise suppression and delineation of high-resolution details. Within-segment variability in the myocardium (reported as the coefficient of variation for T₁ /T₂ ) was lowest for DIP-B1 (2.3/8.3%) followed by DIP (2.7/8.7%), LRMC (3.5/10.5%), and LR (15.3/39.6%). Spatial homogeneity improved with DIP-B1 having the lowest intersegment variability (2.6/4.1%). The mean bias in ejection fraction was -1.1% compared to reference cine scans.

A DIP reconstruction for 2D cine MRF enabled cardiac phase-resolved mapping of T₁ , T₂ , M₀ , and the effective B₁ ⁺ with improved noise suppression and precision compared to LR and LRMC.