P2T2: a Physically-primed deep-neural-network approach for robust $T_{2}$ distribution estimation from quantitative $T_{2}$-weighted MRI

Estimation of the T2 distribution from multi-echo T2-Weighted MRI (T2W) data can provide insight into the microscopic content of tissue using macroscopic imaging. This information can be used as a biomarker for several pathologies, such as tumor characterization, osteoarthritis, and neurodegenerative diseases. Recently, deep neural network (DNN) based methods were proposed for T2 distribution estimation from MRI data. However, these methods are highly sensitive to distribution shifts such as variations in the echo-times (TE) used during acquisition. Therefore, DNN-based methods cannot be utilized in large-scale multi-institutional trials with heterogeneous acquisition protocols. We present P2T2, a new physically-primed DNN approach for T2 distribution estimation that is robust to different acquisition parameters while maintaining state-of-the-art estimation accuracy. Our P2T2 model encodes the forward model of the signal decay by taking as input the TE acquisition array, in addition to the MRI signal, and provides an estimate of the corresponding T2 distribution as its output. Our P2T2 model has improved the robustness against distribution shifts in the acquisition process by more than 50% compared to the previously proposed DNN model. When tested without any distribution shifts, our model achieved about the same accuracy. Finally, when applied to real human MRI data, our P2T2 model produced the most detailed Myelin-Water fraction maps compared to both the MIML model and classical approaches. Our proposed physically-primed approach improved the generalization capacity of DNN models for T2 distribution estimation and their robustness against distribution shifts compared to previous approaches without compromising the accuracy.