Electron Beam Tomography

Electron beam tomography (EBT) is a specific form of computed tomography (CAT or CT) in which the X-ray tube is not mechanically spun in order to rotate the source of X-ray photons. This different design was explicitly developed to better image heart structures which never stop moving, performing a complete cycle of movement with each heart beat.

As in conventional CT technology, the X-ray source-point moves along a circle in space around an object to be imaged. In EBT, however, the X-ray tube itself is large and stationary, and partially surrounds the imaging circle. Rather than moving the tube itself, electron-beam focal point (and hence the X-ray source point) is swept electronically along a tungsten anode in the tube, tracing a large circular arc on its inner surface. This motion can be very fast.

Read more about Electron Beam Tomography:  Design Advantage, Design Specifics, Design Disadvantage, Future

Famous quotes containing the word beam:

    It was at that moment, just after Krug had fallen through the bottom of a confused dream and sat up on the straw with a gasp—and just before his reality, his remembered hideous misfortune could pounce upon him—it was then that I felt a pang of pity for Adam and slid towards him along an inclined beam of pale light—causing instantaneous madness, but at least saving him from the senseless agony of his logical fate.
    Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977)