Improved Lanczos algorithms for blackbox MRS data quantitation

Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS) has been shown to be a potentially important medical diagnostic tool. The success of MRS depends on the quantitative data analysis, i.e. the interpretation of the signal in terms of relevant physical parameters, such as frequencies, decay constants and amplitudes. A variety of time--domain algorithms to extract parameters have been developed. On the one hand, there are so--called blackbox methods. Minimal user interaction and limited incorporation of prior knowledge are inherent to this type of methods. On the other hand, interactive methods exist that are iterative, require user involvement and allow inclusion of prior knowledge. We focus on blackbox methods. The computationally most intensive part of these blackbox methods is the computation of the singular value decomposition (SVD) of a Hankel matrix. Our goal is to reduce the needed computational time without affecting the accuracy of the parameters of interest. To this end, algorithms based on the Lanczos method are suitable because the main computation at each step, a matrix-vector product, can be efficiently performed by means of the Fast Fourier Transform exploiting the structure of the involved matrix. We compare the performance in terms of accuracy and efficiency of four algorithms: the classical SVD algorithm based on the QR decomposition, the Lanczos algorithm, the Lanczos algorithm with partial reorthogonalization and the implicitly restarted Lanczos algorithm. Extensive simulation studies show that the latter two algorithms perform best.