The GPU Technology Conference: NVIDIA's New Focus in a Changing Market

A Focus On: TechniScan Medical Systems

Website: Techniscan | Medical Systems


One of the more interesting sessions I attended was held by a start-up company called TechniScan Medical Systems. If you were fortunate enough to watch the opening keynote delivered by NVIDIA’s CEO, then you will already be familiar with the technological advancements TechniScan is brining to the medical imaging field. Their goals struck close to my own heart and I am sure they will do the same for you.

With one in every eight women in this world developing breast cancer some time in their lives, the number of cases has been on a steady rise but techniques used for early detection have been lagging behind. The usual methods of mammography are anything but accurate or pleasant to undergo and the subsequent biopsies usually return benign results. What the industry needs is an accurate, quick imaging system which can filter out benign cysts and false positives. This in theory should free up doctors’ and the equipment’s time to concentrate on priority cases.


TechniScan has come up with a system that uses a non-invasive way of scanning the whole breast for any signs of cancer. A person lies down face-first on the examination table while their breast is suspended in warm water and an ultrasonic scanner is then rotated around the target area. This technique results in thousands of cross sections that need to be compiled into a 3D image and this is of course where CUDA and GPU computing come into play.


One of the main topics of conversation at the GTC was the power of near-instant visualization that GPUs help provide in fields which range from seismic research to medical imaging. In this case we are talking of a full 3D representation of the breast which means that a large amount of processing power is needed. Instead of using a huge rendering farm to process the multitude of cross-sectional images that the scanner provides, TechniScan can do the same amount of work in a fraction of the time with only a few Tesla engines. Their scanning techniques and the high-resolution rendering capability of modern GPUs allows TechniScan’s ultrasounds to provide pinpoint accuracy. Accuracy means quicker detection which could in fact save quite a few lives.

With FDA approval expected in the near future, TechniScan looks to be well on their way to providing a real leap forward for the medical industry when it comes to detection of one of the most prevalent forms of cancer. We are wishing them all the best.