A Framework for Jointly Assessing and Reducing Imaging Artefacts Automatically Using Texture Analysis and Total Variation Optimisation for Improving Perivascular Spaces Quantification in Brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging

Perivascular spaces are fluid-filled tubular spaces that follow the course of cerebral penetrating vessels, thought to be a key part in the brain’s circulation and glymphatic drainage system. Their enlargement and abundance have been found associated with cerebral small vessel disease. Thus, their quantification is essential for establishing their relationship with neurological diseases. Previous works in the field have designed visual rating scales for assessing the presence of perivascular spaces and proposed segmentation techniques to reduce flooring and ceiling effects of qualitative visual scales, processing times, and inter-observer variability. Nonetheless, their application depends on the acquisition quality. In this paper, we propose a framework for improving perivascular spaces quantification using both texture analysis and total variation filtering. Texture features were considered for evaluating the image quality and determining automatically whether filtering was needed. We tested our work using data from a cohort of patients with mild stroke (n=60 ) with different extents of small vessel disease features and image quality. Our results demonstrate the potential of our proposal for improving perivascular spaces assessments.