GPU Based Modified HYPR Technique: A Promising Method for Low Dose Imaging

Abstract

Medical imaging has grown tremendously over the decades. The computed tomography CT and Magnetic resonance imaging MRI are considered to be most widely used imaging modalities. MRI is less harmful, but one cannot underestimate the harmful side effects of CT. A recent study reveals the fact of increasing risk of cancer as a side effect for patients undergoing repeated CT scans. Hence the design of the low dose imaging protocol is about the immense importance in the current scenario. In this paper, the authors present modified highly constrained back projection M-HYPR as a most promising technique to address low dose imaging. Highly constrained back projection HYPR being iterative in nature is computational savvy, and is one of the main reasons for being neglected by CT developers. The weight matrix module, being root cause for huge computation time is modified in this work. Considerable speed up factor is recorded, as compared original HYPR O-HYPR on a single thread CPU implementation. The quality of the reconstructed image in each platform has been analyzed. Recorded results upholds M-HYPR algorithm, and appreciates usage of graphical processing units GPU in medical imaging applications.