Results of the 2020 fastMRI Challenge for Machine Learning MR Image Reconstruction

Accelerating MRI scans is one of the principal outstanding problems in the MRI research community. Towards this goal, we hosted the second fastMRI competition targeted towards reconstructing MR images with subsampled k-space data. We provided participants with data from 7,299 clinical brain scans (de-identified via a HIPAA-compliant procedure by NYU Langone Health), holding back the fully-sampled data from 894 of these scans for challenge evaluation purposes. In contrast to the 2019 challenge, we focused our radiologist evaluations on pathological assessment in brain images. We also debuted a new Transfer track that required participants to submit models evaluated on MRI scanners from outside the training set. We received 19 submissions from eight different groups. Results showed one team scoring best in both SSIM scores and qualitative radiologist evaluations. We also performed analysis on alternative metrics to mitigate the effects of background noise and collected feedback from the participants to inform future challenges. Lastly, we identify common failure modes across the submissions, highlighting areas of need for future research in the MRI reconstruction community.

Automated summary

This article discusses the organization of the second fastMRI competition, which focuses on reconstructing MRI images with subsampled k-space data, targeting the principal problem of accelerating MRI scans. Results showed one team performing best in both SSIM scores and qualitative radiologist evaluations. In contrast to the 2019 challenge, evaluations in this competition also emphasized pathological assessment in brain images.