Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Parallel medical image reconstruction: from graphics processing units (GPU) to Grids

  • Published:
The Journal of Supercomputing Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We present and compare a variety of parallelization approaches for a real-world case study on modern parallel and distributed computer architectures. Our case study is a production-quality, time-intensive algorithm for medical image reconstruction used in computer tomography (PET). We parallelize this algorithm for the main kinds of contemporary parallel architectures: shared-memory multiprocessors, distributed-memory clusters, graphics processing units (GPU) using the CUDA framework, the Cell processor and, finally, how various architectures can be accessed in a distributed Grid environment. The main contribution of the paper, besides the parallelization approaches, is their systematic comparison regarding four important criteria: performance, programming comfort, accessibility, and cost-effectiveness. We report results of experiments on particular parallel machines of different architectures that confirm the findings of our systematic comparison.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. IBM Inc (2010) Software Development Kit for Multicore Acceleration Version 3.0. http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/power/cell/

  2. NVIDIA Corp (2010) NVIDIA CUDA compute unified device architecture. http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cuda.html

  3. Brune C, Sawatzky A, Burger M (2009) Bregman-EM-TV methods with application to optical nanoscopy. In: Proceedings of the 2nd international conference on scale space and variational methods in computer vision. Lectures notes in computer science, vol 5567. Springer, Berlin, pp 235–246

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  4. Hoefler T, Schellmann M, Gorlatch S, Lumsdaine A (2008) Communication optimization for medical image reconstruction algorithms. In: Recent advances in parallel virtual machine and message passing interface. Lectures notes in computer science, vol 5205. Springer, Berlin, pp 75–83

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  5. Kösters T, Wübbeling F, Natterer F (2006) Scatter correction in PET using the transport equation. In: IEEE nuclear science symposium and medical imaging conference record. IEEE, New York, pp 3305–3309

    Google Scholar 

  6. Meiländer D, Schellmann M, Gorlatch S (2009) Implementing a data-parallel application with low data locality on multicore processors. In: International conference on architecture of computing systems — workshop proceedings. VDE, pp 57–64

  7. Reader AJ, Erlandsson K, Flower MA, Ott RJ (1998) Fast accurate iterative reconstruction for low-statistics positron volume imaging. Phys Med Biol 43(4):823–834

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Ryoo S, Rodrigues C, Baghsorkhi S, Stone S, Kirk D, Hwu W (2008) Optimization principles and application performance evaluation of a multithreaded GPU using CUDA. In: PPoPP ’08: proc of the 13th ACM SIGPLAN symposium, pp 73–82

  9. Schäfers KP, Reader AJ, Kriens M, Knoess C, Schober O, Schäfers M (2005) Performance evaluation of the 32-module QuadHIDAC small-animal PET scanner. J Nucl Med 46(6):996–1004

    Google Scholar 

  10. Schellmann M, Böhm D, Wichmann S, Gorlatch S (2007) Towards a grid system for medical image reconstruction. In: IEEE nuclear science symposium and medical imaging conference record. IEEE, New York, pp 3019–3025

    Google Scholar 

  11. Schellmann M, Gorlatch S (2007) Comparison of two decomposition strategies for parallelizing the 3D list-mode OSEM algorithm. In: Proceedings fully 3D meeting and HPIR workshop, pp 37–40

  12. Schellmann M, Vörding J, Gorlatch S, Meiländer D (2008) Cost-effective medical image reconstruction: from clusters to graphics processing units. In: Proceedings of the 2008 conference on computing frontiers. ACM, New York, pp 283–292

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  13. Schelmann M, Gorlatch M, Meiländer D, Kösters T, Schäfers K, Wübbeling F, Burger M (2009) Parallel medical image reconstruction: from graphics processors to grids. In: 10th International Conference PaCT-2009. Lectures notes in computer science, vol 5698. Springer, Berlin, pp 457–473

    Google Scholar 

  14. Shepp LA, Vardi Y (1982) Maximum likelihood reconstruction for emission tomography. IEEE Trans Med Imag 1:113–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Siddon RL (1985) Fast calculation of the exact radiological path for a three-dimensional CT array. Med Phys 12(2):252–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Informatik, Universität Münster, Einsteinstr. 62, 48149, Münster, Germany

    Maraike Schellmann, Sergei Gorlatch, Dominik Meiländer, Thomas Kösters, Klaus Schäfers, Frank Wübbeling & Martin Burger

Authors
  1. Maraike Schellmann
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sergei Gorlatch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dominik Meiländer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Thomas Kösters
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Klaus Schäfers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Frank Wübbeling
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Martin Burger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dominik Meiländer.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Schellmann, M., Gorlatch, S., Meiländer, D. et al. Parallel medical image reconstruction: from graphics processing units (GPU) to Grids. J Supercomput 57, 151–160 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-010-0397-z

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-010-0397-z

Keywords

Search

Navigation