With the advances in science and technology, medical field has seen significant growth.  Precision and accuracy are the latest buzz words in medical field.  Gone are the days where doctors have to either rely on information from patient or by their physical examination while diagnosing a disease.  In this new age, doctors heavily rely on medical equipment which provide precise and accurate information about the disease or the medical condition of a patient.  Advances in science made it possible to increase the efficiency of medical equipment.  These changes in the efficiency are clearly noticeable from as small a device as stethoscope to as big a machine as CT scan.

Internal infection because of various medical conditions or anatomical damages to human body were difficult to identify and pinpoint until a few decades back.  But thanks to the CT scanners, the job of doctors has been made much easier.  A CAT scan or CT scan produces cross-sectional images of a specific area with computer-processed combinations of multiple X-ray images taken from different angles as source.  These images provide the ability to see the inside of an object or body part without the need to cut the body part or object

The precise, accurate and clear information a CT scanner provides made its usage significantly increase over the last two decades in many countries across the world.  In the year 2007, in US alone, a staggering number of 72 million scans were performed with the help of CT scanner.  The use of CT scan is not limited or restricted to any part of the body.

ct scanner

It can used to diagnose various diseases that fall under cardiology or neurology or pulmonology.  There are multiple benefits associated with CT scan.  CT scan provides the ability to capture only the area of interest as part of the image by eliminating the superimposition of images of structures that are not part of area of interest.  A CT scan images are of high-contrast resolution which translates into the ability to differentiate between tissues with a difference in physical density by less than 1%.  Multiplanar reconstruction is the most important benefit wherein a volume of image is built by stacking the axial slices.  Multiple other 3D rendering techniques such as surface rendering, volume rendering and Image segmentation increase the image quality.

The increasing growth of CT scan market has having the reverse effect on the X-ray market which is getting phased out gradually.  This trend of increased growth of CT scan market having a diminishing effect on X-ray is more evident in developed markets such as US and Western Europe.  In emerging markets such as India, Russia and Israel etc., the growth potential for CT scan market is very high.  This is due to the fact that X-ray machines are still extensively used among the emerging markets.  Governments across the emerging markets have realized the importance of a nation with healthy population.  This has led to increased budgetary spending in healthcare industry in the emerging countries.

CT scanners

CT scanners are extensively used in imaging centers, hospitals and clinics.  Currently, 16 and 64 slice scanners enjoy great deal of popularity among the service providers.  However, 320 scanner systems are also available.  Some of the dominant players in the CT scan market include Toshiba Medical Systems, Siemens, Trivitron Technologies, Philips Healthcare and GE Healthcare.  These major players in their economic interest to grab the market are also investing heavily in their R&D in order to bring more and more enhanced features with their products.  As we advance in science and technology field, we can be assured that CT scanners will come with innovative, safe and enhanced features that make the job of diagnosing a disease by doctor a cake walk.

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