Medical Image Segmentation Using a Combination of Lattice Boltzmann Method and Fuzzy Clustering Based on GPU CUDA Parallel Processing

Abstract

The rapid development of computer technology has had a significant influence on advances in medical science. This development concerns segmenting medical images that can be used to help doctors diagnose patient diseases. The boundary between objects contained in an image is captured using the level set function. The equation of the level set function is solved numerically by combining the Lattice Boltzmann (LBM) method and fuzzy clustering. Parallel processing using a graphical processing unit (GPU) accelerates the execution of the segmentation process. The results showed that image segmentation with a relatively large size could be done quickly. The use of parallel programming with the GPU can accelerate up to 39.22 times compared to the speed of serial programming with the CPU. In addition, the comparisons with other research and benchmark data show consistent results.