CT Principles

Back to Basics
History of CT

Discovery of X-ray
Prof. Wilhelm Conrad
Rntgen
(German Physicist)
November 8, 1895
Discovered accidently working
in his Laboratory at University
of Wrzburg
As the Nature of the Ray was
Unknown, he called it X-Ray

Rntgen received the first

Nobel Prize in Physics in
1901
However, he refused to take
out any patents in order that
the world could freely
benefit from his work

Inventor of X-ray Tube

William David Coolidge
(1873-1975)
1905 Joined GE Research
Laboratory
1913 GE Engineer who
developed the Coolidge XRay Tube
Became VP & Director of GE
Research Laboratory
1975 Elected into National
Inventors Hall of Fame
83 Patents to His Credit

X-Ray & Tomography

Radiographic Imaging
CT
Conventional Radiography

Conventional Tomography

Computed Tomographic Imaging

The Meaning of Tomography

1920 (Early)
Technique for imaging a layer of
body had been developed and
called Body section
Radiography or
Stratigraphy(Stratum mean
layer)

1935
Grossman refined the technique
and labelled it Tomography
(From the Greek tomos meaning
section)

Computed Tomography
(CT) meaning transverse
section (cross section) or
transverse axial tomography

Generations of CT Scanners

1971
1972
1975 - Present
1977 Present

First Generation
Second Generation
Third Generation
Fourth Generation

First Generation CT
One Detector Translation/Rotation with Parallel Beam

1st Generation CT Scanners

(Translate/Rotate)
Translate/Rotate with Single Detector

EMI Scanner (Prototype)

Single Detector
Mechanically Complex
Long Scan Times (4-5
Mins)
Extremely Slow
Head Scan Limited
Required Water Bath
Fixed Anode X-Ray Tube
Low mA

With single detector can only

acquire one view at a time

Second Generation CT
Multiple Detectors Translation/Rotation with Small Fan Beam

2nd Generation CT Scanners

(Translate/Rotate)
Translate/Rotate with Multiple Detectors

EMI 1010 & 5005 Scanner

(1972)
Multiple Detectors
Mechanically Complex
Shorter Scan Times
20 to 90 Sec

Head/Body Scan Capable

Required Water Bath for
Head
Only Scanner
Rotating Anode X-Ray
Tube
Low mA, Long Scan Time
Poor Tube Life, 350 KHU
Tube

Significant Improvement
Over 1st Generation

Third Generation CT
Multiple Detectors Rotation/Rotation with Large Fan Beam

3rd Generation CT Scanners (Rotate/Rotate)

Translate/Rotate with Multiple Detectors

GE 8800 (1975)
Multiple Detectors in Fan Beam
Array of detectors and tube rotate
around the patient for faster
scanning
High mechanical stability
Detectors always in x-ray beam,
allow good utilization of the x-ray
beam
Good tube-patient-detectors
geometry

Faster Scan Times

4.9 Sec
Long Recon Times

Rotating Anode X-Ray Tube

Higher Pulsed mA
Poor Tube Life, 500 KHU Tube

Current Geometry of Choice

for All Manufacturers

16
LightSpeed
with Xtream Technology

Fourth Generation CT
Detector Ring Source/Rotation with Large Fan Beam

LightSpeed ContinuumLightSpeed Platform

9 Products
in 7 Years
on 1 platform!

LightSpeed
VCT

2004
1998

2000

2001

LightSpeed LightSpeed LightSpeed

QX/i
Plus
Ultra

2002
HiSpeed
QX/i

2002
LightSpeed16

2003

2003

LightSpeed
Pro16

LightSpeed
RT
LightSpeed
Pro32

Our commitment to our Customer is our Continuum.

Can All Scanners do

this?
1.

Can you do a Coronary CTA in 5 heartbeats?

2.

Can you perform a gated study of the chest in 10-12 seconds?

3.

Can you scan the whole body in 10 seconds with sub-millimeter resolution?

4.

Can your detector read out a full 64 channels per rotation?

5.

Does your CT detector feature backlit diode technology?

6.

Does your system have an isotropic detector that delivers 0.35mm resolution?

7.

Can you acquire a coronary CT image with a temporal resolution of 43 milliseconds

and an actual-not effective-mAs of 280?

8.

Does your system deliver up to 800 mA?

9.

What is the maximum table weight and scannable range?

10. Is all recon and transfer on your system performed at 16 images per second?