Robust MR-AIV: A Systematic Study of Robustness Improvement and Sensitivity Analysis of MR-AIV

Abstract

AO_SCPLOWBSTRACTC_SCPLOWCerebrospinal and interstitial fluid transport play a central role in brain metabolic waste clearance, yet non-invasive quantification of deep-brain flow dynamics remains challenging. Magnetic Resonance Artificial Intelligence Velocimetry (MR-AIV) is a physics-informed neural network framework that infers three-dimensional velocity, pressure, and permeability fields from dynamic contrastenhanced MRI by embedding porous-media flow physics into the learning process. Here, we present a methodological refinement and systematic evaluation of MR-AIV. We introduce a universal, anatomically informed, region-of-interest-based permeability initialization that improves anatomical alignment and physical consistency across subjects. We quantify the sensitivity of inferred fields to key modelling choices, including initialization strategies, permeability bounds, diffusivity assumptions, signal-concentration relationships, and measurement noise. Across these conditions, MR-AIV yields stable velocity and permeability estimates with preserved spatial structure. Together, these results establish practical guidelines and identify stable operating regimes for reliable deployment of MR-AIV. By improving robustness and reproducibility, this work strengthens MR-AIV as a minimally invasive approach for mapping brain-wide porous fluid transport and supports its application to studies of neurological health and disease.