The term used to describe a variety of imaging techniques — ultrasound, CT (computed tomography), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), isotope, or PET (positron emission tomography) scans. ‘Going for a scan’ in pregnancy would mean an ultrasound scan of the unborn baby or of the mother's pelvis. Sometimes the term may be linked to the organ or part of the body being examined (e.g. brain scan, liver scan, bone scan) without defining the particular imaging technique, other times it may be qualified and more specific (e.g. CT brain scan, isotope bone scan). All types of scanners provide moving or consecutive pictures, focussed on an organ or region of the body, from which a two- or three-dimensional image can be built up and saved by computing techniques.
— J. K. Davidson
See imaging techniques; radiology; X-rays.
