Tomographic image reconstruction and rendering with texture-mapping hardware

The image reconstruction problem, also known as the inverse Radon transform, for x-ray computed tomography (CT) is found in numerous applications in medicine and industry. The most common algorithm used in these cases is filtered backprojection (FBP), which, while a simple procedure, is time-consuming for large images on any type of computational engine. Specially designed, dedicated parallel processors are commonly used in medical CT scanners, whose results are then passed to a graphics workstation for rendering and analysis. However, a fast direct FBP algorithm can be implemented on modern texture-mapping hardware in current high-end workstation platforms. This is done by casting the FBP algorithm as an image warping operation with summing. Texture- mapping hardware, such as that on the silicon Graphics Reality Engine, shows around 600 times speedup of backprojection over a CPU-based implementation (a 100 Mhz R4400 in our case). This technique has the further advantages of flexibility and rapid programming. In addition, the same hardware can be used for both image reconstruction and for volumetric rendering. Our technique can also be used to accelerate iterative reconstruction algorithms. The hardware architecture also allows more complex operations than straight-ray backprojection if they are required, including fan-beam, cone-beam, and curved ray paths, with little or no speed penalties.© (1994) COPYRIGHT SPIE--The International Society for Optical Engineering. Downloading of the abstract is permitted for personal use only.