# Multi-delay arterial spin-labeled perfusion estimation with biophysics simulation and deep learning

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.10640 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2311.10640/

## Key facts

- No citing papers in the map yet (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 7 of its 26 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 17 Nov 2023.

## Builds on (most cited first, 7 of 7)

- [Batch Normalization: Accelerating Deep Network Training by Reducing Internal Covariate Shift](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1502.03167/) (2015)
- [CBAM: Convolutional Block Attention Module](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.06521/) (2018)
- [3D U-Net: Learning Dense Volumetric Segmentation from Sparse Annotation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1606.06650/) (2016)
- [SynthSeg: Segmentation of brain MRI scans of any contrast and resolution without retraining](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2107.09559/) (2021)
- [Efficient Folded Attention for 3D Medical Image Reconstruction and Segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2009.05576/) (2020)
- [DeDA: Deep Directed Accumulator](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2303.08434/) (2023)
- [Deep Decomposition for Stochastic Normal-Abnormal Transport](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2111.14777/) (2021)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Purpose: To develop biophysics-based method for estimating perfusion Q from arterial spin labeling (ASL) images using deep learning. Methods: A 3D U-Net (QTMnet) was trained to estimate perfusion from 4D tracer propagation images. The network was trained and tested on simulated 4D tracer concentration data based on artificial vasculature structure generated by constrained constructive optimization (CCO) method. The trained network was further tested in a synthetic brain ASL image based on vasculature network extracted from magnetic resonance (MR) angiography. The estimations from both trained network and a conventional kinetic model were compared in ASL images acquired from eight healthy volunteers. Results: QTMnet accurately reconstructed perfusion Q from concentration data. Relative error of the synthetic brain ASL image was 7.04% for perfusion Q, lower than the error using single-delay ASL model: 25.15% for Q, and multi-delay ASL model: 12.62% for perfusion Q. Conclusion: QTMnet provides accurate estimation on perfusion parameters and is a promising approach as a clinical ASL MRI image processing pipeline.