Linear diffusion noise boosted deep image prior for unsupervised sparse-view CT reconstruction.

Journal: Physics in medicine and biology
PMID:

Abstract

Deep learning has markedly enhanced the performance of sparse-view computed tomography reconstruction. However, the dependence of these methods on supervised training using high-quality paired datasets, and the necessity for retraining under varied physical acquisition conditions, constrain their generalizability across new imaging contexts and settings.To overcome these limitations, we propose an unsupervised approach grounded in the deep image prior framework. Our approach advances beyond the conventional single noise level input by incorporating multi-level linear diffusion noise, significantly mitigating the risk of overfitting. Furthermore, we embed non-local self-similarity as a deep implicit prior within a self-attention network structure, improving the model's capability to identify and utilize repetitive patterns throughout the image. Additionally, leveraging imaging physics, gradient backpropagation is performed between the image domain and projection data space to optimize network weights.Evaluations with both simulated and clinical cases demonstrate our method's effective zero-shot adaptability across various projection views, highlighting its robustness and flexibility. Additionally, our approach effectively eliminates noise and streak artifacts while significantly restoring intricate image details.. Our method aims to overcome the limitations in current supervised deep learning-based sparse-view CT reconstruction, offering improved generalizability and adaptability without the need for extensive paired training data.

Authors

  • Jia Wu
  • Xiaoming Jiang
    Institute of Language Sciences, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, 201620, China. xiaoming.jiang@shisu.edu.cn.
  • Lisha Zhong
    School of Medical Information and Engineering, Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, China. Electronic address: zhonglisha@swmu.edu.cn.
  • Wei Zheng
    School of Computer Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing, 211169, China. zhengwei@jit.edu.cn.
  • Xinwei Li
    Biomedical Engineering Research Center, The Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, P.R.China.
  • Jinzhao Lin
    School of Communications and Information Engineering, Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, People's Republic of China.
  • Zhangyong Li
    Biomedical Engineering Research Center, The Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, Chongqing 400065, P.R.China.