computed axial tomography (CAT)

computed axial tomography (CAT)
or computed tomography (CT)

Diagnostic imaging method using a low-dose beam of X rays that crosses the body in a single plane at many different angles.

Conceived by William Oldendorf and developed independently by Godfrey Hounsfield (b. 1919) and Allan M. Cormack, who shared a 1979 Nobel Prize for their inventions, this major advance in imaging technology became generally available in the early 1970s. Detectors record the strength of the exiting X rays; this information is then processed by computer to produce a detailed two-dimensional cross-sectional image of the body. A series of such images in parallel planes or around an axis can show the location of abnormalities (especially tumours and other masses) more precisely than can conventional X-ray images.

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Universalium. 2010.

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Look at other dictionaries:

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  • computed axial tomography — com·put·ed axial tomography kəm .pyüt əd n COMPUTED TOMOGRAPHY abbr. CAT …   Medical dictionary

  • computerized axial tomography — noun a method of examining body organs by scanning them with X rays and using a computer to construct a series of cross sectional scans along a single axis • Syn: ↑computerized tomography, ↑computed tomography, ↑CT, ↑computed axial tomography,… …   Useful english dictionary

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  • tomography — [tə mäg′rə fē] n. 〚< Gr tomos, a piece cut off (see TOMY) + GRAPHY〛 a process for producing an image of a single plane of an object excluding all other planes, as by using CT SCAN or ULTRASOUND, in …   Universalium

  • CAT scan — computed axial tomography scan * * * CAT scan kat skan, .sē .ā tē n a sectional view of the body constructed by computed tomography called also CT scan * * * CT scan computerized axial tomography, or the image obtained from it …   Medical dictionary

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