Transformer-Based 2.5D Model Restores Accelerated Whole-Brain Vessel Wall MRI, Enabling Sub‑6‑Minute Acquisitions

Transformer-based 2.5D model restored 2×2‑accelerated vessel wall imaging to match twofold GRAPPA quality: peak SNR ↑ >7 dB, SSIM ↑ 0.19. Prospective multi‑center testing showed significant SNR & CNR gains, enabling whole‑brain VWI under 6 min with standard coils.

• Retrospectively, model outputs improved peak SNR by more than 7 dB and structural similarity index (SSIM) by 0.19 versus input images.
• When applied to CAIPIRINHA fourfold‑accelerated data, the model significantly enhanced vessel wall SNR, wall‑to‑lumen CNR, wall‑to‑CSF CNR, and image quality scores in prospective multi‑center testing.
• The model was integrated into the vendor’s inline reconstruction pipeline and performed robustly on independent cohorts from different institutions and coil configurations (64‑channel).

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