What is a CT scan?
A CAT scan or a CT scan is a form of x-ray imaging that produces cross-sectional images of the body. The scanner itself is a short, open chamber with no enclosed tunnel. It does NOT interfere with metal stents or electronic devices such as pacemakers. CT scanners use computers to record the amount of x-ray beams passing through the body. By creating a series of CT images (slices) down the body, the radiologist can look at each image and get an accurate indication of position, size, and density of objects within the body. Virtual colonoscopy takes all of the slices and recreates them into a 3D image of your colon that can be rotated and looked at from various directions.
CT is an abbreviation for computed tomography, an advanced type of x-ray study which uses x-rays to show cross-sections of body tissues and organs. This type of study is also referred to as a CAT scan (computed axial tomography). CT of the body is a patient-friendly exam that involves little radiation exposure. CT imaging is particularly useful because it allows visualization inside the body with amazing clarity. Using specialized equipment and expertise to create and interpret CT scans of the body, radiologists can more easily diagnose problems such as infectious disease, trauma, tumors, and musculo-skeletal disorders).
A CT Scan (aka Cat Scan, CT imaging and Computed Tomography) is a procedure in which a 3 dimensional image is constructed from a series of radiologic “slices” of a particular region of the body. Images from a CT Scan are 1,000 times sharper than a regular x-ray and can pin-point lesions measuring less than 2mm.
A CT scanner is a special x-ray machine combined with a computer that produces cross-sectional images or “slices” of any part of your head or body. Unlike a standard “flat” x-ray image where some structures block others, a CT scan shows structures within each slice on a three-dimensional plane. As a result, the doctor who views a CT scan can see your entire anatomy. The CT scan machine is open around you, does not touch you and is not confining. It should not be confused with an MRI scanner that is more of a tunnel-type structure. Even patients who suffer with claustrophobia find CT scans to be fairly simple, fast and easy.
CT scan is short for Computed Tomography. It is an X–ray based equipment. The ‘CT scan’ is a technique that uses X–rays to take many multiple “Cross–section” images of the body, which are then assembled into a three–dimensional image by a computer. It is a painless non–invasive radiological investigation.
