Applying NORDIC denoising to high-resolution T1-mapping for structural layer measures

Motivation: High resolution T1-mapping can become SNR limited and be highly sensitive to spatial SNR drop-offs when using surface receive coil arrays. This results in poor T1 fits and segmentations which in turn impacts layer-specific structural measures. Goal(s): To apply NORDIC denoising to T1-mapping data to assess how it impacts structural layer measures. Approach: High resolution T1-mapping data collected using a surface coil array. NORDIC denoising applied at multiple patch sizes. Resultant T1 and R2 maps, segmentation and cortical depth profiles compared. Results: NORDIC denoising provides visual improvements in T1-maps with improving R2 of the fit. However, smaller NORDIC patch sizes introduce smoothing. Impact: NORDIC denoising improves quantitative high-resolution brain T1-mapping for structural measures collected alongside layer fMRI and is beneficial for segmentation of data acquired on surface receive coils. It is important to consider smoothing introduced by smaller NORDIC patch sizes.