title: Development of a GPU-based multithreaded software application to calculate digitally reconstructed radiographs for radiotherapy.
abstract: To provide faster calculation of digitally reconstructed radiographs (DRRs) in patient-positioning verification, we developed and evaluated a graphic processing unit (GPU)-based DRR software application and compared it with a central processing unit (CPU)-based application. The evaluation metrics were calculation speed and image quality for various slice thicknesses. The results showed that the GPU-based DRR computation was an average of 50 times faster than the CPU-based methodology, whereas the image quality was very similar. This excellent performance may increase the accuracy of patient positioning and improve the patient treatment throughput time.
authors.affiliation: Research Center for Charged Particle Therapy, National Institute of Radiological Sciences, Chiba, Japan. shinshin@nirs.go.jp
authors.forename: Shinichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Masanao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Motoki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kumagai
authors.forename: Shinichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Minohara
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003196:Computer Graphics; D011856:Radiographic Image Enhancement / Q000379:methods*; D011881:Radiotherapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D012984:Software; D013997:Time Factors
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