SDUM: A Scalable Deep Unrolled Model for Universal MRI Reconstruction

TL;DR

SDUM is a scalable, universal deep learning framework for MRI reconstruction that generalizes across protocols, achieves state-of-the-art results without fine-tuning, and demonstrates predictable performance scaling with model size.

Contribution

Introduction of SDUM, a universal MRI reconstruction model combining multiple innovations, capable of handling diverse protocols with scalable performance and superior results.

Findings

Achieves state-of-the-art results across multiple MRI challenges.

Reconstruction quality scales predictably with model size.

Outperforms specialized baselines and winning methods in benchmarks.

Abstract

Clinical MRI encompasses diverse imaging protocols--spanning anatomical targets (cardiac, brain, knee), contrasts (T1, T2, mapping), sampling patterns (Cartesian, radial, spiral, kt-space), and acceleration factors--yet current deep learning reconstructions are typically protocol-specific, hindering generalization and deployment. We introduce Scalable Deep Unrolled Model (SDUM), a universal framework combining a Restormer-based reconstructor, a learned coil sensitivity map estimator (CSME), sampling-aware weighted data consistency (SWDC), universal conditioning (UC) on cascade index and protocol metadata, and progressive cascade expansion training. SDUM exhibits foundation-model-like scaling behavior: reconstruction quality follows PSNR ${\sim}$ log(parameters) with correlation $r{=}0.986$ ($R^2{=}0.973$) up to 18 cascades, demonstrating predictable performance gains with model depth. A single SDUM trained on heterogeneous data achieves state-of-the-art results across all four CMRxRecon2025 challenge tracks--multi-center, multi-disease, 5T, and pediatric--without task-specific fine-tuning, surpassing specialized baselines by up to ${+}1.0$~dB. On CMRxRecon2024, SDUM outperforms the winning method PromptMR+ by ${+}0.55$~dB; on fastMRI brain, it exceeds PC-RNN by ${+}1.8$~dB. Ablations validate each component: SWDC ${+}0.43$~dB over standard DC, per-cascade CSME ${+}0.51$~dB, UC ${+}0.38$~dB. These results establish SDUM as a practical path toward universal, scalable MRI reconstruction.