# Diffusion Probabilistic Generative Models for Accelerated, in-NICU Permanent Magnet Neonatal MRI

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.15984 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2505.15984/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Placed in Medical imaging and segmentation, one of 14 directions in Diffusion models.
- Builds on 25 of its 59 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 21 May 2025.

## Placed in

- Diffusion models / [Medical imaging and segmentation](https://mlsanity.com/diffusion/medical-imaging-and-segmentation/)

## Builds on (most cited first, 25 of 25)

- [Denoising Diffusion Probabilistic Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2006.11239/) (2020)
- [LoRA: Low-Rank Adaptation of Large Language Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2106.09685/) (2021)
- [Score-Based Generative Modeling through Stochastic Differential Equations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2011.13456/) (2020)
- [Elucidating the Design Space of Diffusion-Based Generative Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2206.00364/) (2022)
- [Diffusion Posterior Sampling for General Noisy Inverse Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.14687/) (2022)
- [Diffusion Models: A Comprehensive Survey of Methods and Applications](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2209.00796/) (2022)
- [MoDL: Model Based Deep Learning Architecture for Inverse Problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.02862/) (2017)
- [Learning a Variational Network for Reconstruction of Accelerated MRI Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1704.00447/) (2017)
- [Score-based diffusion models for accelerated MRI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.05243/) (2021)
- [Robust Compressed Sensing MRI with Deep Generative Priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2108.01368/) (2021)
- [Deep Generative Modelling: A Comparative Review of VAEs, GANs, Normalizing Flows, Energy-Based and Autoregressive Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.04922/) (2021)
- [Noisier2Noise: Learning to Denoise from Unpaired Noisy Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1910.11908/) (2019)
- [Regularization by Denoising: Clarifications and New Interpretations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1806.02296/) (2018)
- [Plug and play methods for magnetic resonance imaging (long version)](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.08616/) (2019)
- [InverseBench: Benchmarking Plug-and-Play Diffusion Priors for Inverse Problems in Physical Sciences](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.11043/) (2025)
- [RARE: Image Reconstruction using Deep Priors Learned without Ground Truth](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1912.05854/) (2019)
- [Bayesian MRI Reconstruction with Joint Uncertainty Estimation using Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2202.01479/) (2022)
- [MR image reconstruction using deep density priors](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1711.11386/) (2017)
- [MRI Reconstruction Using Deep Bayesian Estimation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.01127/) (2019)
- [Diffusion Posterior Sampling is Computationally Intractable](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2402.12727/) (2024)
- [Accelerated Motion Correction with Deep Generative Diffusion Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2211.00199/) (2022)
- [Robustness of Deep Learning for Accelerated MRI: Benefits of Diverse Training Data](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2312.10271/) (2023)
- [ContextMRI: Enhancing Compressed Sensing MRI through Metadata Conditioning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.04284/) (2025)
- [Multi-Scale Energy (MuSE) plug and play framework for inverse problems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2305.04775/) (2023)
- [FSE Compensated Motion Correction for MRI Using Data Driven Methods](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2207.00656/) (2022)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Accelerating Stroke MRI with Diffusion Probabilistic Models through Large-Scale Pre-training and Target-Specific Fine-Tuning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.13007/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Purpose: Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) enables non-invasive assessment of brain abnormalities during early life development. Permanent magnet scanners operating in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) facilitate MRI of sick infants, but have long scan times due to lower signal-to-noise ratios (SNR) and limited receive coils. This work accelerates in-NICU MRI with diffusion probabilistic generative models by developing a training pipeline accounting for these challenges. Methods: We establish a novel training dataset of clinical, 1 Tesla neonatal MR images in collaboration with Aspect Imaging and Sha'are Zedek Medical Center. We propose a pipeline to handle the low quantity and SNR of our real-world dataset (1) modifying existing network architectures to support varying resolutions; (2) training a single model on all data with learned class embedding vectors; (3) applying self-supervised denoising before training; and (4) reconstructing by averaging posterior samples. Retrospective under-sampling experiments, accounting for signal decay, evaluated each item of our proposed methodology. A clinical reader study with practicing pediatric neuroradiologists evaluated our proposed images reconstructed from 1.5x under-sampled data. Results: Combining all data, denoising pre-training, and averaging posterior samples yields quantitative improvements in reconstruction. The generative model decouples the learned prior from the measurement model and functions at two acceleration rates without re-training. The reader study suggests that proposed images reconstructed from approximately 1.5x under-sampled data are adequate for clinical use. Conclusion: Diffusion probabilistic generative models applied with the proposed pipeline to handle challenging real-world datasets could reduce scan time of in-NICU neonatal MRI.