Deep learning for improving the spatial resolution of magnetic particle imaging
Yaxin Shang, Jie Liu, Liwen Zhang, Xiangjun Wu, Peng Zhang, Lin Yin, Hui Hui, Jie Tian
Abstract
Abstract Objective. Magnetic particle imaging (MPI) is a new medical, non-destructive, imaging method for visualizing the spatial distribution of superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles. In MPI, spatial resolution is an important indicator of efficiency; traditional techniques for improving the spatial resolution may result in higher costs, lower sensitivity, or reduced contrast. Approach. Therefore, we propose a deep-learning approach to improve the spatial resolution of MPI by fusing a dual-sampling convolutional neural network (FDS-MPI). An end-to-end model is established to generate high-spatial-resolution images from low-spatial-resolution images, avoiding the aforementioned shortcomings. Main results. We evaluate the performance of the proposed FDS-MPI model through simulation and phantom experiments. The results demonstrate that the FDS-MPI model can improve the spatial resolution by a factor of two. Significance. This significant improvement in MPI could facilitate the preclinical application of medical imaging modalities in the future.