CAT°

acronym (Health and Fitness) (Science and Technology) Short for computerized axial tomography, a medical technology which provides a series of cross-sectional pictures of internal organs and builds these up into a detailed picture using an X-ray machine controlled by a computer. Etymology: An acronym, formed on the initial letters of Computerized Axial Tomography; sometimes expanded as Computer-Aided or Computer-Assisted Tomography. History and Usage: The technique was developed by EMI in the US in the mid seventies and was at first known as CT scanning (an alternative name which is still widely used, especially in the US). By producing detailed pictures of the inside of the body (and in particular of brain tissue) it revolutionized diagnostic procedures, often doing away with the need for exploratory surgery. CAT is normally used attributively, like an adjective: the image produced is a CAT scan; the equipment which produces it is a CAT scanner; the process is CAT scanning rather than CAT alone. Voluntary groups have raised the money...to buy CAT scanners for their local hospitals. Listener 28 Apr. 1983, p. 2 Very soon after meeting Gabriel, I sent him to get a CT scan of his head and discovered a medium-sized tumor in his brain. Perri Klass Other Women's Children (1990), p. 222