CT scan

<p>A computed tomography scan (CT scan),  formerly called computed axial tomography scan (CAT scan), is a <a href="/facts/Medical_imaging/pL6JyJEp">medical imaging</a> technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body. The personnel that perform CT scans are called <a href="/facts/Radiographer/ekNv8xMp">radiographers</a> or radiology technologists.
CT scanners use a rotating <a href="/facts/X-ray_tube/tx0dTDqp">X-ray tube</a> and a row of detectors placed in a <a href="/facts/Gantry_(medical)/SWwKNqgn">gantry</a> to measure X-ray <a href="/facts/Attenuation/XP4vX360">attenuations</a> by different tissues inside the body. The multiple <a href="/facts/X-ray/wseP79cN">X-ray</a> measurements taken from different angles are then processed on a computer using <a href="/facts/Tomographic_reconstruction/rk84hL6s">tomographic reconstruction</a> algorithms to produce <a href="/facts/Tomography/HGqzMl2s">tomographic</a> (cross-sectional) images (virtual "slices") of a body. CT scans can be used in patients with metallic implants or pacemakers, for whom <a href="/facts/Magnetic_resonance_imaging/Vh9yG9qq">magnetic resonance imaging</a> (MRI) is <a href="/facts/Contraindication/HawhU8x9">contraindicated</a>.</p>
<p>Since its development in the 1970s, CT scanning has proven to be a versatile imaging technique. While CT is most prominently used in <a href="/facts/Medical_diagnosis/J47rvb0p">medical diagnosis</a>, it can also be used to form images of non-living objects. The 1979 <a href="/facts/Nobel_Prize_in_Physiology_or_Medicine/rlnpJX84">Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine</a> was awarded jointly to South African-American physicist <a href="/facts/Allan_MacLeod_Cormack/0SVy7eLY">Allan MacLeod Cormack</a> and British electrical engineer <a href="/facts/Godfrey_Hounsfield/u2BHgbbq">Godfrey Hounsfield</a> "for the development of computer-assisted tomography".
</p>

CT scan open-in-new

CT scan