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HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1937

• Watson
• CT is so remarkable that in many cases it
• Developed another tomographic technique in
generates a dramatic increase in diagnostic
which the sections were transverse sections
information compared to what is obtained in
(cross-sections) and referred to as transverse
conventional x-ray techniques.
axial tomography.
• This invention was made possible through the
work of several individuals, most notably
Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield and Allan
Macleod Cormack.

MILESTONES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMPUTED

TOMOGRAPHY

1917
• Johann Karl August Radon
• It is possible to reconstruct or build up an image
of two- or three-dimensional object from a large
number of projections from different directions.
1920’S
• Methods to images specific body layers or
sections of the body were under development.
• At that time, terms such as “body section
radiography” and “stratigraphy” from stratum
which means layer) were used to describe the
technique.
1940
• Gabriel Frank
• Described the basic idea of today’s
tomography.
• The patent includes drawings of equipment to
form sinograms (representations of
measurement data as linear samples versus
view samples) and optical back projection
techniques to reconstruct images.

1935
• Grossman
• redefined the technique and labelled it,
“tomography” (Greek tomos, meaning
“section”)
• A conventional tomogram is an image of a
section of the patient that is oriented parallel to
the film.
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1960
• William Oldendorf
• An American neurologist from Los Angeles,
performed a series of experiments based on
principles similar to those later used in CT.
• The objective of his work was to determine
whether internal structures within dense
structures could be identified by transmission
measurements.
1971
• Dr. James Ambrose
• A consultant at Atkinson-Morley’s Hospital.
• Together with Hounsfield, they have obtained
readings from a specimen of Human Brain.
1971
• Dr. Robert Ledley
• A professor of radiology, physiology, and
biophysics at Georgetown University,
developed the first whole-body CT scanner

1975
• Dynamic Spatial Reconstructor (DSR), with the
goals to carry out dynamic volumes scanning to
accommodate imaging the dynamics of organ
system with high temporal resolution
1963
• David E. Kuhl and Roy Q. Edwards
• Transverse Tomography using Radioisotopes was
further developed and evolved into today’s
emission computed tomography

1963 1979
• Allan Macleod Cormack • Hounsfield shared the Nobel Prize in in medicine
• He derived a mathematical theory for image and physiology with Allan Macleod Cormack
reconstruction.
• Cormack also applied reconstruction 1980
techniques in nuclear medicine. • Boyd’s Electron Beam Computed Tomography
(EBCT)
1967
• Godfrey Newbold Hounsfield
• The development of the first clinical CT scanner
began in 1967 at the Central Research
Laboratories of EMI, Ltd. in England
• “if an x-ray beam were passed through an
object from all directions and measurements
were made of all the x-ray transmission,
information about the internal structures of
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INDUSTRIAL APPLICATION OF CT
1. Study of internal Log defects in sawmill. Funt
and Bryan (1987)

5. Fat stock breeding

2. Paleoanthropology

6. Animal investigation

3. Baggage inspection at airports

7. Evaluate bowed stringed instruments (Sirr

and Waddle (1999).

4. Oil Exploration
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CT SYSTEM AND ITS COMPONENTS
HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATOR
• Generators produce high voltage and transmit
it to the x-ray tube.
• High kV is used to increase the intensity of the
beam, increasing its penetrating ability and
thereby reducing patient dose.
• High kV settings also help to reduce the heat
load on the x-ray tube by allowing a lower mA
setting.
GANTRY
• A mounted framework that surrounds the
patient in vertical plane
• It contains rotating scan frame onto which x-ray
generator, x-ray tube, slip-rings, high tension
generator, collimators, detectors and DAS.
COOLING SYSTEMS
• They can take different forms, such as blowers,
filters, or devices that perform oil-to-air heat
exchange.
• Cooling mechanisms are important because
many imaging components can be affected by
temperature fluctuation.
Filtration
• Compensating filters are used to shape the x-
ray beam. They reduce the radiation dose to
the patient and help to minimize image artifact.
• In addition, creating a more uniform beam
intensity improves the CT image by reducing
artifacts that result from beam hardening.
• Filtering the x-ray beam helps to reduce the
radiation dose to the patient and improves
image quality.
Slip ring
• Slip rings use a brushlike apparatus to provide
continuous electrical power and electronic
communication across a rotating surface.
• They permit the gantry frame to rotate
continuously, eliminating the need to straighten
twisted system cables.
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X-RAY TUBE
• X-ray tubes produce the x-ray photons that
create the CT image.
• Tungsten, with an atomic number of 74, is often
used for the anode target material because it
produces a higher-intensity x-ray beam.
• A CT tube must be designed to handle such
stress. The way a tube dissipates the heat that is
created during x-ray production is critical

Collimation
• Collimators restrict the x-ray beam to a specific
area, thereby reducing scatter radiation.
• Scatter radiation reduces image quality and
increases the radiation dose to the patient.
• Reducing the scatter improves contrast
resolution and decreases patient dose.
• Collimators control the slice thickness by
narrowing or widening the x-ray beam.
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DETECTOR
• Captures the radiation beam from the patient
and convert it into electrical signals, which are
subsequently converted into binary coded
information.
• There are two types of Radiation detector
according the materials used.
a. Xenon Gas
b. Solid-state
Xenon Gas Detector
• Xenon gas is used because of its ability to
remain stable under pressure
• A xenon detector channel consists of three
tungsten plates. When a photon enters the
channel, it ionizes the xenon gas
Solid State Detector
• Solid-state detectors are also called scintillation
detectors because they use a crystal that
fluoresces when struck by an x-ray photon
A brief comparison between xenon gas and solid-
state detector
ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER
• The data-acquisition system, or DAS, measures
the number of photons that strikes the detector,
converts the information to a digital signal, and
sends the signal to the computer
COMPUTER
• A modern computer is a high-speed electronic
computational machine that accepts
information in the form of data and instructions
through some input devices and processes this
arithmetic and logic operations from a program
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stored in its memory and later on displayed,

stored and recorded.

DIGITAL-TO-ANALOG CONVERTER
• Converts digital/ binary data to analog data.

DISPLAY DEVICE
• These are device which presents the data in a
visual manner wherein images are already
available for viewing.

PROCESS OF OBTAINING IMAGES IN COMPUTED

TOMOGRAPHY
• DATA ACQUISITION
• IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION
• IMAGE DISPLAY, MANIPULATION, STORAGE,
RECORDING, COMMUNICATION

RECORDING DEVICE
• Images are usually recorded in x-ray films
because of its wider gray scale.
STORAGE DEVICE
• Images can be stored in devices such as
magnetic tapes and magnetic disks.
DATA ACQUISITION
• Refers to the collection of x-ray transmission
measurements from the patient.
• Once x-rays have passed through the patient,
they fall onto special detectors that measure
the transmission values, or attenuation values.

PATIENT TABLE
• The patient lies on the table (or couch, as it is
referred to by some manufacturers) and is
moved within the gantry for scanning.
• The process of moving the table by a specified
measure is most commonly called
incrementation, but is also referred to as feed,
step, or index.
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IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION
• After enough transmission measurements have
been collected by detectors, they are sent to
the computer processing.
• Computers use special mathematical
techniques to reconstruct the CT image in a
finite number of steps called reconstruction
algorithms.

IMAGE RECORDING
• Images can be recorded and subsequently
stored in some form of archive.
• Images are usually recorded in x-ray films
because of its wider gray scale.
• Such recording is accomplished by multiformat
video cameras and laser cameras.

IMAGE COMMUNICATION
• In CT, it refers to electronic transmission of text
IMAGES DISPLAY
data and images from CT scanner to other
• It is usually on a cathode ray tube.
devices
• Display monitors are mounted onto control
consoles that allow the technologist and
radiologist to manipulate, store and record
images.

IMAGE MANIPULATION
• A distinct characteristic of CT aided by, now-a-
days, may computer software.
• Image can be modified through image
manipulation to make them more useful to the
observer.
• Images can be subjected into other image
processing operation such as image smoothing,
edge enhancement, gray-scale manipulation,
and three-dimensional processing.

IMAGE STORAGE
• Images can be stored on magnetic tapes and
magnetic disks.
• In optical storage, the stored data are read by
optical means such as laser beam. In this case,
storage is referred to as laser storage. It may
include: disks, tapes and cards.
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HOW CT SCANNER WORKS

• The technologist first turns on the scanner’s
power and performs a quick test to ensure the
scanner is in good working order
• The patient is in place in the scanner opening,
with appropriate positioning for the particular
examination
• The technologist sets up the technical factors at
the control console. The scanning can now
begin.
• When x-rays pass through the patient, they are
attenuated and subsequent measured by the
detectors.
• The x-ray tube and detectors, inside the gantry,
rotates around the patient.
• The detectors converts the x-ray photons into
electrical/ analog signals which will be
converted to digital data.
• The computer then performs the image
reconstruction process.
• The reconstructed image is in numeric form and
must be converted into electrical signals and
which enables us to view the images in a
monitor.
• Images can now be stored and recorded.

Historical Perspective of Computer

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COMPUTERS HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 1890

HERMAN HOLLERITH
1642 • He introduced the first electronic tabulator
BLAISE PASCAL based on punch card operation.
• He developed the arithmetic machine
(Pascaline Calculator)

1937
HOWARD AIKEN
• HARVARD MARK 1, a large electromechanical
1694 calculator
GOTTFRIED WILHELM LEIBNIZ
• He developed a calculating machine to solve
multiplication and division problems (Step
Reckoner)

1944
PRESPER ECKERT
• He designed the Electronic Numerical Integrator
and Calculator (ENIAC)

1822
CHARLES BABBAGE
• He invented the difference engine to calculate
mathematical tables.

1944
JOHN MAUCHLY
• Together with Presper Eckert they invented the
Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic
Computer (EDVAC).
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1951
• The UNIVERSAL AUTOMATIC COMPUTER
(UNIVAC) became the first commercially
available computer
Second-generation computers (1959-1963)
• Used solid-state devices such as transistors and
magnetic cores for internal memory.
• Smaller and more reliable
• Requires less power for operation

GENERATIONS OF COMPUTER

First-generation computers (1951-1958)

• Uses vacuum tubes for memory.
• Punch cards and magnetic tape are used as
input-output media
• These machines were large and slow and
required air-conditioned environment

Third-generation computers (1963-1970)

• Introduction of the integrated circuit etched
onto silicon chips.
• Magnetic disks were used for storage.
• Smaller and performs with greater speed
• Can perform multiprocessing
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Fourth-generation computers (1971-1987)

• Based on a large-scale integration in which CLASSIFICATIONS OF COMPUTERS
thousands of integrated circuits were set on a Computers are classified according to their:
chip. 1. Processing capabilities
• Microprocessors were introduced. 2. Storage capacity
3. Size
4. Cost.

Supercomputers
• They are used in oil-exploration studies, weather
forecasts, research, and scientific modeling

Mainframe Computers
• They have large primary memories and can
Fifth-generation computers (1987- present)
support many pieces of peripheral equipment.
• Gallium-arsenide based circuitry.
Organizations such as banks, universities and
• They are based on parallel processing
colleges, large businesses and governments
• Greater speed on processing that fourth-
uses this type of computer.
generation computers.
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Minicomputers COMPUTERS
• They are most commonly used in computed Principles of Computer Systems Applied in
tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Computed Tomography

DEFINITION OF COMPUTER
• An electronic machine that can store and work
with large amount of information.
• A programmable usually electronic device that
can store, retrieve, and process data. (Oxford
languages dictionary)
• A computer is a device that accepts
information (in the form of digitalized data) and
manipulates it for some result based on a
Microcomputers
program, software, or sequence of instructions
• Can be built with all circuitry on a single chip or
on how the data is to be processed.
on multiple circuit boards. Its central feature is a
(TechTarget Contributor)
microprocessor.
• Computers are an integral part of many
activities within a Radiology Department. It is
used fundamentally by different radiology
modalities to acquire, process and post process
imaging data. (I.K. Indrajit)

PROCESS OF OBTAINING IMAGES IN CT

• Data acquisition
• Image reconstruction
• Image display, manipulation, storage, recording
and communication
DIGITAL FUNDAMENTALS
The two types of computers are DIGITAL AND DATA ACQUISITION
ANALOG. • Refers to the collection of x-ray transmission
measurements from the patient.
• Once x-rays have passed through the patient, ,
they fall onto special detectors that measure
the transmission values, or attenuation values.

IMAGE RECONSTRUCTION
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• After enough transmission measurements have

been collected by detectors, they are sent to
the computer processing.
• Computers use special mathematical
techniques to reconstruct the CT image in a
finite number of steps called reconstruction
algorithms.

IMAGE DISPLAY
• It is usually on a cathode ray tube.
• Display monitors are mounted onto control
consoles that allow the technologist and
radiologist to manipulate, store and record
images.
IMAGE STORAGE
• Images can be stored on magnetic tapes and
magnetic disks.
• In optical storage, the stored data are read by
optical means such as laser beam. In this case,
storage is referred to as laser storage. It may
include: disks, tapes and cards.

IMAGE MANIPULATION
• A distinct characteristic of CT aided by, now-a-
days, may computer software.
• image can be modified through image
manipulation to make them more useful to the
observer.
• Images can be subjected into other image
processing operation such as image smoothing,
edge enhancement, gray-scale manipulation,
and three-dimensional processing.
IMAGE RECORDING
• Images can be recorded and subsequently
stored in some form of archive.
• Images are usually recorded in x-ray films
because of its wider gray scale.
• Such recording is accomplished by multiformat
video cameras and laser cameras.
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IMAGE COMMUNICATION
• In CT, it refers to electronic transmission of text
data and images from CT scanner to other
devices
THREE ELEMENTS IN COMPUTER SYSTEM
1. SOFTWARE- refers to instruction that makes
the hardware work to solve problems
2. HARDWARE- refers to the physical
components of the machine
3. COMPUTER USER- people, who are essential
to computers and has the capability to
design, develop, and operate hardware
and software
COMPONENTS OF HARDWARE
INPUT DEVICE
• Input information to a computer
• Allows us to give command to computer system
Two Categories:
a. Keyboard devices
b. Non-keyboard devices
CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT
• It is the brain of the computer.
• Performs basic operations of the system, that
exchanges data with the system’s memory and
that manages the system’s other component.
INTERNAL MEMORY
2 Types:
1. Read-only memory (ROM)
2. Random-access memory (RAM)
Functions:
1. Stores the information entered into the
computer for processing
2. Stores the program that provides the
instructions for processing the input
information
3. Stores the result of processing
*it is available in chips
*this type of memory is volatile
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OUTPUT DEVICE
• An output device is a piece of a computer
hardware that receives data from computer
and then translates that data into another form.
That form a may be audio, visual, textual, or
hard copy such as a printed document.
(Turbofuture)
HARDWARE ORGANIZATION
• A computer processes the data or information it
receives from people or other computers and
outputs the results in a form suitable to the need
of the user.

EXTERNAL MEMORY
• Includes magnetic tapes and disks and optical
disks
• It is nonvolatile
• Storage capacity is determined by the number
of bytes the device can hold.
• External memory, also called "secondary
memory" refers to storage device that can
retain or store data persistently,m
• They could be embedded removable storage
devices. Examples include hard disk or solid
state drives, USB flash drives, and compact
discs. (ATP)

SOFTWARE CONCEPTS
• The hardware receives its instructions from the
software. The instructions are written in steps
that specify the way to solve problem.
• These sets of instructions are called programs.
• Software is a set of programs, which is designed
to perform a well-defined function. A program is
a sequence of instructions written to solve a
particular problem.

Two types of software

• System Software
• Application Software
• Software Development Tool
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SYSTEM SOFTWARE (TUTORIALSPOINT)
• The system software is a collection of programs
designed to operate, control, and extend the
processing capabilities of the computer itself.
• System software is generally prepared by the
computer manufacturers.
• These software products comprise of programs
written in low-level languages, which interact
with the hardware at a very basic level.
• System software serves as the interface
between the hardware and the end users.
• Some examples of system software are
Operating System, Compilers, Interpreter,
Assemblers, etc.
SYSTEM SOFTWARE
• Programs and data that comprise and relate to
the OPERATING SYSTEM (0S).
• An 0S is a program that controls the allocation
and usage of computer hardware resources.
There are 4 types of system software:
1. bootstrap loader
2. Diagnostic routines
3. Input-output system programs
4. 0S
APPLICATION SOFTWARE (TUTORIALS POINT)
• Application software products are designed to
satisfy a particular need of a particular
environment.
• All software applications prepared in the
computer lab can come under the category of
Application software.
• Application software may consist of a single
program, such as Microsoft's notepad for writing
and editing a simple text.
• It may also consist of a collection of programs,
often called a software package, which work
together to accomplish a task, such as a
spreadsheet package.
APPLICATION SOFTWARE
• Refers to the programs developed to perform
specific types of work such as:
1. Creations of text and images
2. Manipulation of words and numbers
3. communication of information
GENERAL APPLICATIONS OF SOFTWARE
• Word processing
• Spreadsheets
• Graphics
• Database management
• Communications
*if all this programs are available in one package, it
is referred to as INTEGRATED SOFTWARE
SOFTWARE INTERFACING
• An interface is the point at which connection is
made between two elements so they can work
together.
Three types of software interface:
1. There are Command-driven - requires the
users to type commands to initiate the
operation of the system.
2. Menu-driven -allows the users to select
commands from displayed menu lists.
3. Graphic - allows the users to select
commands by choosing pictorial
representations.
COMPUTER USERS
• People are essential to computer systems
because they design , develop and operate
hardware and software
DATA TRANSMISSION MEDIA
• Involves the transmission of data from one
location to another through the use of
pathways which is referred to as transmission
media or channels.
• Examples are telephone lines, coaxial cable,
microwaves, satellites, and radio waves and
optical fibers.
NETWORK TOPOLOGIES
There are four network configurations:
1. Bus
2. Star
3. Ring
4. Hierarchical
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NON-IMAGING APPLICATIONS
• Refers to Radiology Information System (RIS)
• Hospital Information System (HIS)
• Picture Archiving and Communications Systems

*which can connect to a Hospital Information

System

INTERNET
• It is the largest computer network system in COMMUNICATION PROTOCOL STANDARDS
existence because it connects users all over the • Protocol deals with specifics of how a certain
world. task will be done
• Standard is an approved reference model and
protocol determined by standard setting groups
or building products and services.
• 0. is the| standard application protocol for use
in His and RIS.
• DICOM is the imaging communication protocol
for PACS, and was developed by the American
College of Radiology and National Electrical
Manufacturers Association.

COMPUTERS IN RADIOLOGY

IN 1955
• Used to calculate radiation dose distributions in
cancer patients.

NOWADAYS
• lt is applied for imaging and non-imaging
purposes.

IMAGING APPLICATIONS
• Modalities in which the information acquired
from the patient is subject to computer
processing.