Complex threshold method for identifying pixels that contain predominantly noise in magnetic resonance images

PURPOSE: To create a robust means to remove noise pixels using complex data. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was used to determine the appropriate choice of magnitude and phase thresholds as well as connectivity values to determine what pixels represent noise in the image. To fine-tune the results, a spike removal and hole replacement operator is applied to reduce Type I error and remove small islands of …