Ultra-fast 3D filtered backprojection on commodity graphics hardware

Recent efforts in cone-beam scanner technology have focused on developing interactive scanning capabilities, for example, to enable image-guided surgical interventions or real-time diagnosis with time-varying data. However, apart from a fast scanner these applications also require a fast reconstruction algorithm to match. The filtered backprojection algorithm devised by Feldkamp, Davis, and Kress is the most widely used algorithm for 3D reconstruction from cone-beam projections, and it is the algorithm with the lowest complexity. Yet, pure software implementations have difficulties to process the data at the speeds required for real-time scanning. One option is to utilize expensive and rare custom boards for this purpose. We describe an alternative solution, which is inexpensive, uses readily available PC graphics hardware boards, and provides the desired performance at the quality required.