# Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Image Synthesis with Contrast-Aware Generative Adversarial Networks

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.09386 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.09386/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 29 of its 47 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Feb 2021.

## Builds on (most cited first, 29 of 29)

- [Adam: A Method for Stochastic Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1412.6980/) (2014)
- [A Style-Based Generator Architecture for Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1812.04948/) (2018)
- [Image-to-Image Translation with Conditional Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1611.07004/) (2016)
- [Analyzing and Improving the Image Quality of StyleGAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.04958/) (2019)
- [Progressive Growing of GANs for Improved Quality, Stability, and Variation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.10196/) (2017)
- [Xception: Deep Learning with Depthwise Separable Convolutions](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.02357/) (2016)
- [Improved Training of Wasserstein GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.00028/) (2017)
- [Conditional Generative Adversarial Nets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1411.1784/) (2014)
- [Unsupervised Representation Learning with Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1511.06434/) (2015)
- [Multimodal Unsupervised Image-to-Image Translation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1804.04732/) (2018)
- [Generative Adversarial Text to Image Synthesis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1605.05396/) (2016)
- [Wasserstein GAN](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1701.07875/) (2017)
- [Conditional Image Synthesis With Auxiliary Classifier GANs](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1610.09585/) (2016)
- [fastMRI: An Open Dataset and Benchmarks for Accelerated MRI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1811.08839/) (2018)
- [Learning from Simulated and Unsupervised Images through Adversarial Training](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1612.07828/) (2016)
- [Generative Adversarial Network in Medical Imaging: A Review](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.07294/) (2018)
- [Deep Generative Image Models using a Laplacian Pyramid of Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1506.05751/) (2015)
- [Synthetic Data Augmentation using GAN for Improved Liver Lesion Classification](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.02385/) (2018)
- [GAN Augmentation: Augmenting Training Data using Generative Adversarial Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.10863/) (2018)
- [GANs for Medical Image Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1809.06222/) (2018)
- [MADGAN: unsupervised Medical Anomaly Detection GAN using multiple adjacent brain MRI slice reconstruction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2007.13559/) (2020)
- [How to Fool Radiologists with Generative Adversarial Networks? A Visual Turing Test for Lung Cancer Diagnosis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1710.09762/) (2017)
- [Combining Noise-to-Image and Image-to-Image GANs: Brain MR Image Augmentation for Tumor Detection](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1905.13456/) (2019)
- [Learning Implicit Brain MRI Manifolds with Deep Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1801.01847/) (2018)
- [How Generative Adversarial Networks and Their Variants Work: An Overview](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.05914/) (2017)
- [High-resolution medical image synthesis using progressively grown generative adversarial networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1805.03144/) (2018)
- [Virtual Thin Slice: 3D Conditional GAN-based Super-resolution for CT Slice Interval](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.11506/) (2019)
- [Controllable Generative Adversarial Network](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1708.00598/) (2017)
- [Learning More with Less: Conditional PGGAN-based Data Augmentation for Brain Metastases Detection Using Highly-Rough Annotation on MR Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1902.09856/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Noise2Contrast: Multi-Contrast Fusion Enables Self-Supervised Tomographic Image Denoising](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.04832/) (2022)
- [Comparing Conditional Diffusion Models for Synthesizing Contrast-Enhanced Breast MRI from Pre-Contrast Images](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2508.13776/) (2025)

## Abstract (arXiv)

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) exam typically consists of the acquisition of multiple MR pulse sequences, which are required for a reliable diagnosis. Each sequence can be parameterized through multiple acquisition parameters affecting MR image contrast, signal-to-noise ratio, resolution, or scan time. With the rise of generative deep learning models, approaches for the synthesis of MR images are developed to either synthesize additional MR contrasts, generate synthetic data, or augment existing data for AI training. However, current generative approaches for the synthesis of MR images are only trained on images with a specific set of acquisition parameter values, limiting the clinical value of these methods as various sets of acquisition parameter settings are used in clinical practice. Therefore, we trained a generative adversarial network (GAN) to generate synthetic MR knee images conditioned on various acquisition parameters (repetition time, echo time, image orientation). This approach enables us to synthesize MR images with adjustable image contrast. In a visual Turing test, two experts mislabeled 40.5% of real and synthetic MR images, demonstrating that the image quality of the generated synthetic and real MR images is comparable. This work can support radiologists and technologists during the parameterization of MR sequences by previewing the yielded MR contrast, can serve as a valuable tool for radiology training, and can be used for customized data generation to support AI training.