A deeper insight [CT scanners]

The latest advance in medical imaging are revealing the inner workings of the human body in unprecedented levels of detail. In May 2005, UK newspapers ran some remarkable images from a new CT (computer tomography) scanner installed at the Conquest Hospital in Hastings, East Sussex. The highly detailed, and slightly disturbing, views of a human head showed layers of skin and muscle being progressively ´stripped away´ to reveal the bones beneath. CT scanners are special X-ray machines designed to produce detailed images of many types of tissue in any part of the body. The Conquest pictures came from one of the latest multi-slice CT scanners. The visualisation software for these new scanners is clearly very impressive, but the real medical excitement stems from the ability to scan large sections of the body within a matter of seconds. The article looks at some of the results that can be obtained and the technology that enables them to be achieved. Another important factor is the ability to control the X-ray dose levels.