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.
Look at other dictionaries:
computed axial tomography scanner — or computerized axial tomography scanner noun A machine which produces X ray pictures of cross sections of the body with the assistance of a computer (abbrev CAT or CT scanner) • • • Main Entry: ↑compute … Useful english dictionary
computed 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, ↑computerized axial tomography … Useful english dictionary
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
Computed tomography of the head — Diagnostics Computer tomography of human brain, from base of the skull to top. Taken with intravenous contrast medium. ICD 9 CM … Wikipedia
computerized axial tomography scanner — noun a tomograph that constructs a 3 D model of an object by combining parallel planes • Syn: ↑CAT scanner • Hypernyms: ↑tomograph * * * computed axial tomography scanner or computerized axial tomography scanner noun A machine which produces X… … Useful english dictionary
Computed tomography — tomos (slice) and graphein (to write).Computed tomography was originally known as the EMI scan as it was developed at a research branch of EMI, a company best known today for its music and recording business. It was later known as computed axial… … Wikipedia
computed 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, ↑CT, ↑computerized axial tomography, ↑computed axial… … Useful english dictionary
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
