CT Scanner Acronyms and Phrases Defined
CT scanner phraseology is the focus of this week's installment of our ongoing series. Dig into the following and expand your radiology vocabulary!
ASiR: Adaptive Statistical iterative Reconstruction, noise and dose reduction software available with several models of GE CT and PET/CT. (GE Healthcare 2012)
AWW: Advantage Windows Workstation, found in GE product lines, used for post-processing diagnostics
Card IQ: Cardiac software option
CSCORE: Calcium Score, test used to detect calcium deposits found in atherosclerotic plaque in the coronary arteries (Cleveland Clinic 2012)
CT: Computerized Tomography, also known as CAT Scan, Computerized Axial Tomography
ECG/EKG: Electrocardiogram, monitors the electrical activity of patients’ hearts, aids with cardiac gating
FOV: Field of View
H1-3: Refers to gantry styles on GE CT’s. H-1: box style, H-2: curved, found on LightSpeed Plus and some 16-slice systems (See H1 Gantry vs H2 Gantry), H-3: same curved looks as an H-2 with some different internal components
LCD: Liquid Crystal Display
MHU: Million Heat Unit, refers to the “size” of the tube, i.e. the tube’s ability to dissipate heat
MIP: Maximum Intensity Projection, projection method used to build 3D images by stacking the slices taken during a scan
MPR: Multiplanar Reconstruction, a reconstruction method where a 3D image is built from individual slices then re-segmented by the software on different planes
POR: Plane of Rotation
RT: “Radiation Therapy”- oncology treatments
Slice: How many anatomical cross-sections are captured in 1 rotation
Syngo: Siemens software platform
VCT: Volume Computed Tomography, high-speed scanning
DAS: Data Acquisition Sytem, processing components in the scanner's detector, collect the data from the scan
VRT: Volumetric Rendering Technique, “allow[s] rapid generation of a series of hi-quality 3D images in each plane of rotation that can be viewed as independent static images or as an animated real-time video loop.” (RSNA 2012)
Worklist: A software option that pulls patient and procedure data from the site network so the tech doesn't have to re-enter all the data on the scanner itself
If you need to know more, or already do, we want to hear from you. Any term you'd like us to add will help the next searcher learn even more about CT scanners and accessories. Leave your additons as a comment below and help us keep this list growing!
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Meet the authors: Josh Block and Emily Collins
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