Research Progress of Denoising Algorithms for Diffusion Tensor Images

Diffusion tensor imaging is an essential technique to study tissue brain microstructure and the distribution of white matter fiber tracts. However, affected by the diffusion-weighted signal attenuation and long echo time, diffusion tensor images suffer from serious low signal-to-noise ratio problem. Therefore, efficient denoising techniques are crucial for enhancing image quality. This paper starts with the principle of diffusion tensor imaging and the types of noise. Then it discusses the classical diffusion tensor image denoising algorithms, including algorithms based on traditional image processing and deep learning. Special emphasis is given to the status and shortcomings of diffusion tensor image denoising research. The denoising evaluation criteria and commonly used public datasets are also introduced, followed by experiments and quantitative analysis on the diffusion tensor image denoising methods mentioned in this paper. Finally, it concludes with a summary and an outlook for the field’s future research directions.