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Definition
By Mayo Clinic staff
Computerized tomography (CT scan) — also called CT — combines a series of X-ray views taken from many different angles and computer processing to create cross-sectional images of the bones and soft tissues inside your body.
The resulting images can be compared to looking down at single slices of bread from a loaf. Your doctor will be able to look at each of these slices individually or perform additional visualization to view your body from different angles. In some cases, CT images can be combined to create 3-D images. CT scan images can provide much more information than do plain X-rays.
A CT scan has many uses, but is particularly well suited to quickly examine people who may have internal injuries from car accidents or other types of trauma. A CT scan can be used to visualize nearly all parts of the body.
- CT — Body. RadiologyInfo.org. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/info.cfm?pg=bodyct. Accessed Feb. 24, 2012.
- Smith-Bindman R, et al. Radiation dose associated with common computed tomography examinations and the lifetime attributable risk of cancer. Archives of Internal Medicine. 2009;169:2078.
- Adam A, et al. Grainger & Allison's Diagnostic Radiology. 5th ed. Philadelphia, Pa.: Churchill Livingstone Elsevier; 2008. http://www.mdconsult.com/books/about.do?about=true&eid=4-u1.0-B978-0-443-10163-2..X5001-5&isbn=978-0-443-10163-2&uniqId=319273617-2. Accessed Feb. 24, 2012.
- Contrast materials. RadiologyInfo.org. http://www.radiologyinfo.org/en/safety/index.cfm?pg=sfty_contrast. Accessed Feb. 24, 2012.
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