A, SWI images for a higher axial brain slice using phase unwrapping-Gaussian filtering. From upper left image to bottom right image, filter size were [16 32 48 64 80 96 112 128 144 160 176 192] pixels. When filter size was too small (16 pixel for this case), incomplete removal of background gradients left dark areas, pointing by white arrows in the upper left image. B, CNR between vessels and nearby tissue decreases in SWI images as the filter size increases in A.