Computerized tomography: taking sectional x rays

DEC 01, 1977

A source and detector moving around the patient yield data that, processed by a computer, make visible a two‐dimensional slice of the living human body—at 2‐millimeter resolution.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3037825

William Swindell

Harrison H. Barrett

An important new diagnostic technique is making its appearance in our major hospitals. The technique, which uses x rays to render visible thin slices through any section of the human body, has been so dramatic in its development that no general agreement has yet been reached on its name—it has been called “computed tomography,” “computerized axial tomography,” “transaxial tomography” and “reconstruction from projections.” Figure 1 shows one version of the apparatus in a clinical setting.

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More about the authors

William Swindell, University of Arizona, Tucson.

Harrison H. Barrett, University of Arizona, Tucson.