Parallel implementation for cone beam based 3D Computed Tomography (CT) medical image reconstruction on multi-core processors

Abstract

3D or multi-dimensional medical image reconstruction is attracting more and more attention in modern era. Rapid volumetric image reconstruction is of paramount importance to clinicians for prompt diagnosis and analysis of complex tissue alternations. However, due to a high demand on computation for either the analytical or iterative image reconstruction algorithms, it is almost impossible to meet the requirement of real-time reconstruction. On the other hand, with high computing capability and broad banding characteristic, recently multi-core processors provide a new possibility and hopeful start for some of the most computation-demanding applications, such as medical imaging, digital media and entertainment equipment. This study aims to parallelize an analytical 3D CT image reconstruction algorithm, the so-called FDK method, and to implement it on an existing multi-core platform system, towards a real-time 3D medical image reconstruction. In this paper, the parallelization of the 3D image reconstruction algorithm, the coding optimizations and a comparative result of run time savings are described.