SNR Quantification using Pseudoreplica Method: Validation in Phantom and Application to in-vivo Brain Perfusion using ASL

Motivation: SNR is a key image quality metric; however estimating it can be difficult when using more complex image acquisition and reconstruction techniques. Goal(s): Demonstrate the validity of the pseudoreplica method as an accurate SNR estimation tool and show potential for its translation into clinical scanning protocols. Approach: We quantified SNR using our pseudoreplica method implementation in MATLAB in a prostate phantom, as well as in a brain ASL dataset of healthy volunteers. Results: SNR values obtained with the pseudoreplica method in the prostate phantom and in-vivo brain ASL dataset had good agreement with the multiple and dual acquisition SNR quantification methods. Impact: We have demonstrated the reliability and accuracy of our pseudoreplica SNR quantification implementation in ASL. Integrating this method into the scanner's pipeline would allow for real-time assessment of image quality and further optimization of new MR sequences and reconstruction methods.