Patent ID: 8314796

Claim:
A method of reconstructing a tomographic image, comprising: a) forward-projecting said tomographic image along a list of individual geometrical lines using a graphics processing unit (GPU), wherein said individual geometrical lines comprise list-mode event data or a list of weighted lines, and wherein said forward-projecting comprises multiple independent forward projections of said tomographic image onto individual lines; wherein said forward-projecting further comprises: i) inputting into said GPU a 3-dimensional voxel array; ii) inputting said list of individual geometrical lines into said GPU, wherein said list of individual geometrical lines is defined within said 3-dimensional voxel array; iii) determining weighted samples values by sampling said 3-dimensional voxel array at several locations along each of said individual geometrical lines in said GPU; iv) recording said weighted samples values of said voxels along each of said individual geometrical lines into GPU memory, where said weighted samples are recorded into GPU memory using texture mapping of said weighted samples; b) back-projecting said list of individual geometrical lines into a 3-dimensional volume using said GPU, wherein said back projecting comprises multiple independent back projections of said individual lines onto said 3-dimensional volume; c) utilizing results of said forward-projecting and said back projecting to reconstruct said tomographic image; and d) providing said reconstructed tomographic image as an output.