A CT or CAT scan is the informal name for computerized tomography, which combines many X-ray images from different angles into a cross-sectional or even 3-D image of the body, according to MayoClinic.com. This computer-enhanced image provides far more detail than regular X-rays of the bones, organs and other tissues inside the body. It is used to diagnose and treat a number of illnesses and injuries throughout the body, but it carries more risks than a standard X-ray.
CT scans are a diagnostic procedure, which uses an X-ray beam that rotate around the body. During this rotation, pictures are taken of the body from different views. The computer than converts those various views into a detaile...
CT scans are a radiographic test used to identify heart disease, blood clots, broken bones and cancers quickly and painlessly. Also known as computed tomography, the CT scanner takes pictures in slices, providing a transaxial v...
Many lung cancers are not detected until they've already metastasized, or spread to other areas. Around 85 percent of lung cancers occur in smokers or ex-smokers, according to the Merck Manual. While computerized tomography, or...
And with pediatric imaging, doctors must be extremely careful with radiation doses, because of the sensitivity of children's rapidly dividing cells. With adults, cells still divide, but at a much slower rate. Computed Tomograph...
Beginning around 1970, CT scans, or computer axial tomagraphy scans, became a popular imaging tool. They were particularly helpful when imaging areas of the body such as the brain that were otherwise inaccessible. With this new...
Computer axial tomography scans are also called CAT scans and CT scans. Starting in the 1970s, this technology became wildly popular as more and more hospitals sought to expand their imaging capabilities. The CT scan was a rev...
Stab wounds to the abdomen occur when a sharp object penetrates the abdominal cavity. Knife blades and projectile fragments are often associated with penetrating wounds. Because of the number of other organs within the abdomina...
The CT scanner machine creates 2-D image "slices" of the body. A computer then combines the 2-D images to create highly detailed 3-D images. Doctors can then analyze the 3-D images of the organ or blood vessels of interest to d...
According to Merck Manuals, an online medical library, CT scanners have 4 to 64, or even more, rows of detectors. This allows for a series of 2-D image "slices" that can be compiled by a computer to make a 3-D image. There are ...
Human imaging is a crucial field in medicine for evaluating and diagnosing a variety of diseases and conditions. One such technique called computed tomography, or CT scan, has become one of the most frequently used imaging tech...
The result is a clearer, more-detailed view of the inside the body. CT scans can produce pictures of an individual's bones, organs like the kidneys and even blood vessels. Information from the National Library of Medicine expla...
Early diagnosis is important so patients can begin treatment, which can include medications, physical and occupational therapy and speech therapy. A CT scan is one test that may be ordered as part of the diagnostic workup.
Images obtained by a CT scan generally appear on a monitor as shades of gray. Because these structures resemble each other without contrast, a contrast agent is injected intravenously (in the vein) to highlight the structures t...
The images created by CT scan are cross-sectionals of the body part. All of these cross-sectional images of the body part are combined to form a study that is diagnostic, and is read by a radiologist. CT scans provide a non-inv...
A computerized tomagraphy (CT) scan and nuclear bone scan are both radiological procedures used to visualize different parts of the body for disease and disorder detection. A CT scan is a type of X-ray, while a bone scan is mor...
Diagnostic imaging in the medical field has many tools, and one of them is the CT scan. The letters CT stand for computed tomography. CT scans work in a way that is similar to x-ray scans, the kind that produce images of caviti...
Your ophthalmologist or examining doctor may test your hearing, reflexes, visual acuity and other skills to determine whether or not you may have a brain tumor. Visual acuity tests can help determine the size and depth of the ...
If these hormonal imbalances can be treated early enough, hypopituitarism may be prevented. Testing for hypopituitarism also includes CT scans and MRIs of the pituitary gland in addition to blood work.