A CT scan or computed tomography scan (formerly known as computed axial tomography or CAT scan) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to get detailed images of the body noninvasively for diagnostic purposes. The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or radiology technologists.CT scanners use a rotating X-ray tube and a row of detectors placed in the gantry to measure X-ray attenuations by different tissues inside the body. The multiple X-ray measurements taken from different angles are then processed on a computer using reconstruction algorithms to produce tomographic (cross-sectional) images (virtual "slices") of a body. The use of ionizing radiations sometimes restricts its use owing to its adverse effects. However, CT can be used in patients with metallic implants or pacemakers where MRI is contraindicated.
Since its development in the 1970s, CT has proven to be a versatile imaging technique. While CT is most prominently used in diagnostic medicine, it also may be used to form images of non-living objects. The 1979 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded jointly to South African-American physicist Allan M. Cormack and British electrical engineer Godfrey N. Hounsfield "for the development of computer-assisted tomography".