This video explains how the CT scan works, it contains an interview with a doctor and an explanitory animation.
CT (Computed Tomography) History
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| One of the first CT scanners used. |
The CT (also known as CAT scan) was invented by the British Inventor by Godfrey Hounsfield in 1972. The first CT created by Hounsfield worked but wasn’t very efficient and it took Hounsfield hours to collect all the data from the scan. It then took days for Hounsfield to produce one image from all the data collected. The first clinical CT scanners were installed in 1974. Over the next 25 years the CT was improved. It became more advanced and the technology improved. It became a lot faster than Hounsfield prototype. As the CT was improved the images became clearer and people were able to see better images of the inside of the body.
Today
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| A modern CT scanner |
The CT is a common medical tool used to view parts of the body like the head, heart and lungs. The CT is commonly used now to search for diseases and preventive medicines. Some institutions offer full body scans using the CT. There are currently over 30,000 CT scanners across the world. If a person goes for a CT scan they would have to lie down in a donut shaped machine. As they lie in the CT scanner the machine will shoot invisible x-ray beams through your body into a crescent shaped detector. The CT is then able to produce an image of the inside of the body by showing weakened beams that have gone through a part of your body (like bone) different from beams that are not weakened.
Future
In the future the CT will become faster and more efficient as technology improves. The future of CT will be the cone beam CT. The cone beam CT is mostly the same but has a cone shaped scanner. The cone shaped scanner scans the part of the body and rotates taking an image every few degrees. This enables the Ct to create a 3D image instead of just an image slice that it has being doing before. This can be used to make a 3D image of the heart, head, lungs and other parts of the body.
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| A CT scan image of the human heart |
Pros and Cons
Pros
· CT takes a picture of the inside of the body without surgery.
· CT can find diseases in people before it is to late
· CT makes a good image of the inside of the body
· Ct can take a image of any part of the body.
Cons
· CT uses radiation that can be harmful
· CT scanners are expensive
· There are better imaging machines than CT
· CT machines are big
Bibliography
