Feasibility of Implementing Motion-Compensated Magnetic Resonance Imaging Reconstruction on Graphics Processing Units Using Compute Unified Device Architecture

Motion correction in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become increasingly complex due to the high computational demands of iterative reconstruction algorithms and the heterogeneity of emerging computing platforms. However, the clinical applicability of these methods requires fast processing to ensure rapid and accurate diagnostics. Graphics processing units (GPUs) have demonstrated substantial performance gains in various reconstruction tasks. In this work, we present a GPU implementation of the reconstruction kernel for the generalized reconstruction by inversion of coupled systems (GRICS), an iterative joint optimization approach that enables 3D high-resolution image reconstruction with motion correction. Three implementations were compared: (i) a C++ CPU version, (ii) a Matlab–GPU version (with minimal code modifications allowing data storage in GPU memory), and (iii) a native GPU version using CUDA. Six distinct datasets, including various motion types, were tested. The results showed that the Matlab–GPU approach achieved speedups ranging from 1.2× to 2.0× compared to the CPU implementation, whereas the native CUDA version attained speedups of 9.7× to 13.9×. Across all datasets, the normalized root mean square error (NRMSE) remained on the order of ${10}^{-6}$ to ${10}^{-4}$, indicating that the CUDA-accelerated method preserved image quality. Furthermore, a roofline analysis was conducted to quantify the kernel’s performance on one of the evaluated datasets. The kernel achieved 250 GFLOP/s, representing a 15.6× improvement over the performance of the Matlab–GPU version. These results confirm that GPU-based implementations of GRICS can drastically reduce reconstruction times while maintaining diagnostic fidelity, paving the way for more efficient clinical motion-compensated MRI workflows.