Super-resolution reconstruction of whole-body MRI mouse data: An interactive approach

Super-resolution reconstruction (SRR) is a post-acquisition method for producing a high-resolution (HR) image from a set of low-resolution (LR) images. However, for large volumes of data, this technique is computationally very demanding and time consuming. In this study we focus on the specific case of whole-body mouse data and present a novel, integrated, end-to-end approach to overcome this problem. We combine articulated atlas-based segmentation and planar reformation techniques with state-of-the-art in SRR to produce high resolution, interactively selected, localized isotropic volumes-of-interest in whole-body mouse MRI. With this method we overcome time and memory related limitations when applying the SRR algorithm to the entire dataset, enabling interactive visualization and exploration of anatomical structures of interest in whole-body MRI mouse data on a normal desktop PC.