MEDICAL IMAGING

CT Scan

Computed Tomography (CT) is an imaging method that uses an X-ray machine, a radiation detector that surrounds the patient (called a "gantry"), and a high-speed computer to produce images of the human body. Just like radiology, CT uses the difference in the shadows cast by different body tissues and organs to produce the image. But because CT uses a narrow X-Ray beam and a computer to "reconstruct" the image, it can produce cross sectional images or "slices" of body parts. CT is able to image a greater degree of differences between tissues than radiography. Sometimes the radiologist or CT technologist gives the patient a special dye called "contrast." Contrast may be injected into veins, swallowed, or given as an enema. Contrast outlines body parts and shows how they work.

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