arXiv subjects

Qinqin Yang

Publications and source records attributed to Qinqin Yang.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Harmonization in Magnetic Resonance Imaging: A Survey of Acquisition, Image-level, and Feature-level Methods

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has greatly advanced neuroscience research and clinical diagnostics. However, imaging data collected across different scanners, acquisition protocols, or imaging sites often exhibit substantial heterogeneity, known as batch effects or site effects. These non-biological sources of variability can obscure true biological signals, reduce reproducibility and statistical power, and severely impair the generalizability of learning-based models across datasets. Image harmonization is grounded in the central hypothesis that site-related biases can be eliminated or mitigated while preserving meaningful biological information, thereby improving data comparability and consistency. This review provides a comprehensive overview of key concepts, methodological advances, publicly available datasets, and evaluation metrics in the field of MRI harmonization. We systematically cover the full imaging pipeline and categorize harmonization approaches into prospective acquisition and reconstruction, retrospective image-level and feature-level methods, and traveling-subject-based techniques. By synthesizing existing methods and evidence, we revisit the central hypothesis of image harmonization and show that, although site invariance can be achieved with current techniques, further evaluation is required to verify the preservation of biological information. To this end, we summarize the remaining challenges and highlight key directions for future research, including the need for standardized validation benchmarks, improved evaluation strategies, and tighter integration of harmonization methods across the imaging pipeline.

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arXiv2023

FlexDTI: Flexible diffusion gradient encoding scheme-based highly efficient diffusion tensor imaging using deep learning

Objective: Most deep neural network-based diffusion tensor imaging methods require the diffusion gradients' number and directions in the data to be reconstructed to match those in the training data. This work aims to develop and evaluate a novel dynamic-convolution-based method called FlexDTI for highly efficient diffusion tensor reconstruction with flexible diffusion encoding gradient scheme. Approach: FlexDTI was developed to achieve high-quality DTI parametric mapping with flexible number and directions of diffusion encoding gradients. The method used dynamic convolution kernels to embed diffusion gradient direction information into feature maps of the corresponding diffusion signal. Furthermore, it realized the generalization of a flexible number of diffusion gradient directions by setting the maximum number of input channels of the network. The network was trained and tested using datasets from the Human Connectome Project and local hospitals. Results from FlexDTI and other advanced tensor parameter estimation methods were compared. Main results: Compared to other methods, FlexDTI successfully achieves high-quality diffusion tensor-derived parameters even if the number and directions of diffusion encoding gradients change. It reduces normalized root mean squared error (NRMSE) by about 50% on fractional anisotropy (FA) and 15% on mean diffusivity (MD), compared with the state-of-the-art deep learning method with flexible diffusion encoding gradient scheme. Significance: FlexDTI can well learn diffusion gradient direction information to achieve generalized DTI reconstruction with flexible diffusion gradient scheme. Both flexibility and reconstruction quality can be taken into account in this network.

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arXiv2023

High-efficient Bloch simulation of magnetic resonance imaging sequences based on deep learning

Objective: Bloch simulation constitutes an essential part of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) development. However, even with the graphics processing unit (GPU) acceleration, the heavy computational load remains a major challenge, especially in large-scale, high-accuracy simulation scenarios. This work aims to develop a deep learning-based simulator to accelerate Bloch simulation. Approach: The simulator model, called Simu-Net, is based on an end-to-end convolutional neural network and is trained with synthetic data generated by traditional Bloch simulation. It uses dynamic convolution to fuse spatial and physical information with different dimensions and introduces position encoding templates to achieve position-specific labeling and overcome the receptive field limitation of the convolutional network. Main Results: Compared with mainstream GPU-based MRI simulation software, Simu-Net successfully accelerates simulations by hundreds of times in both traditional and advanced MRI pulse sequences. The accuracy and robustness of the proposed framework were verified qualitatively and quantitatively. Besides, the trained Simu-Net was applied to generate sufficient customized training samples for deep learning-based T2 mapping and comparable results to conventional methods were obtained in the human brain. Significance: As a proof-of-concept work, Simu-Net shows the potential to apply deep learning for rapidly approximating the forward physical process of MRI and may increase the efficiency of Bloch simulation for optimization of MRI pulse sequences and deep learning-based methods.

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arXiv2022

Model-based Synthetic Data-driven Learning (MOST-DL): Application in Single-shot T2 Mapping with Severe Head Motion Using Overlapping-echo Acquisition

Use of synthetic data has provided a potential solution for addressing unavailable or insufficient training samples in deep learning-based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, the challenge brought by domain gap between synthetic and real data is usually encountered, especially under complex experimental conditions. In this study, by combining Bloch simulation and general MRI models, we propose a framework for addressing the lack of training data in supervised learning scenarios, termed MOST-DL. A challenging application is demonstrated to verify the proposed framework and achieve motion-robust T2 mapping using single-shot overlapping-echo acquisition. We decompose the process into two main steps: (1) calibrationless parallel reconstruction for ultra-fast pulse sequence and (2) intra-shot motion correction for T2 mapping. To bridge the domain gap, realistic textures from a public database and various imperfection simulations were explored. The neural network was first trained with pure synthetic data and then evaluated with in vivo human brain. Both simulation and in vivo experiments show that the MOST-DL method significantly reduces ghosting and motion artifacts in T2 maps in the presence of unpredictable subject movement and has the potential to be applied to motion-prone patients in the clinic.

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arXiv2022

Physics-driven Synthetic Data Learning for Biomedical Magnetic Resonance

Deep learning has innovated the field of computational imaging. One of its bottlenecks is unavailable or insufficient training data. This article reviews an emerging paradigm, imaging physics-based data synthesis (IPADS), that can provide huge training data in biomedical magnetic resonance without or with few real data. Following the physical law of magnetic resonance, IPADS generates signals from differential equations or analytical solution models, making the learning more scalable, explainable, and better protecting privacy. Key components of IPADS learning, including signal generation models, basic deep learning network structures, enhanced data generation, and learning methods are discussed. Great potentials of IPADS have been demonstrated by representative applications in fast imaging, ultrafast signal reconstruction and accurate parameter quantification. Finally, open questions and future work have been discussed.

cs.LG↗

arXiv2007

Construction of Minimal Tail-Biting Trellises for Codes over Finite Abelian Groups

A definition of atomic codeword for a group code is presented. Some properties of atomic codewords of group codes are investigated. Using these properties, it is shown that every minimal tail-biting trellis for a group code over a finite abelian group can be constructed from its characteristic generators, which extends the work of Koetter and Vardy who treated the case of a linear code over a field. We also present an efficient algorithm for constructing the minimal tail-biting trellis of a group code over a finite abelian group, given a generator matrix.

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