GPU-based Real-Time Generation of Large Ultrasound Volumes from Freehand 3D Sweeps

In the recent past, 3D ultrasound has been gaining relevance in many biomedical applications. One main limitation, however, is that typical ultrasound volumes are either very poorly resolved or only cover small areas. We have developed a GPU-accelerated method for live fusion of freehand 3D ultrasound sweeps to create one large volume. The method has been implemented in CUDA and is capable of generating an output volume with 0.5 mm resolution in real time while processing more than 45 volumes per second, with more than 300.000 voxels per volume. First experiments indicate that large structures like a whole forearm or high-resolution volumes of smaller structures like the hand can be combined efficiently. It is anticipated that this technology will be helpful in pediatric surgery where X-ray or CT imaging is not always possible.