MUSIC: Multi-coil unified sparsity regularization using inter-slice correlation for arterial spin labeling MRI...

Arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI stands as the sole non-invasive method to quantify regional cerebral blood flow (CBF), a crucial physiological parameter. However, ASL MRI typically suffers from a relatively low signal-to-noise ratio. In this study, we introduce a novel ASL denoising approach termed Multi-coil Unified Sparsity regularization using Inter-slice Correlation (MUSIC). While MRI, including ASL data, is routinely captured using multi-channel coils, existing denoising techniques are tailored for coil-combined data, overlooking inherent multi-channel correlations. MUSIC capitalizes on the fact that multi-channel images are primarily distinguished by coil sensitivity weighting and random noise, resulting in an intrinsic low-rank structure within the stacked multi-channel data matrix. This low rankness can be further enhanced by grouping highly correlated slices. Our approach involves adapting regularization to each slice individually, forming potentially low-rank matrices by stacking vectorized slices selected from different channels based on their Euclidean distance from the current slice under processing. Matrix rank is then approximated using the logarithm-determinant of the covariance matrix. Importantly, MUSIC operates directly on complex data, eliminating the need for separating magnitude and phase or dividing real and imaginary data, thereby minimizing information loss. The degree of low-rank regularization is controlled by the estimated noise level, achieving a balance between noise reduction and texture preservation. Experimental validation on real-world imaging data demonstrates the efficacy of MUSIC in significantly enhancing ASL perfusion quality. By effectively suppressing noise while retaining essential textural information, MUSIC holds promise for improving the utility and accuracy of ASL perfusion MRI, thus advancing neuroimaging research and clinical diagnoses.