or computed tomography (CT)
Diagnostic imaging method using a low-dose beam of X ray s that crosses the body in a single plane at many different angles.
Conceived by William Oldendorf and developed independently by Godfrey Hounsfield (b. 1919) and Allan M. Cormack , who shared a 1979 Nobel Prize for their inventions, this major advance in imaging technology became generally available in the early 1970s. Detectors record the strength of the exiting X rays; this information is then processed by computer to produce a detailed two-dimensional cross-sectional image of the body. A series of such images in parallel planes or around an axis can show the location of abnormalities (especially tumours and other masses) more precisely than can conventional X-ray images.