What is an ultrafast/electron beam CT (computed tomography) scan?
In standard x-rays, a beam of energy is aimed at the body part being studied. A plate behind the body part captures the variations of the energy beam after it passes through skin, bone, muscle, and other tissue. While much information can be obtained from a regular x-ray, specific detail about internal organs and other structures is not available. With computed tomography (also called CT or CAT scan), the x-ray beam moves in a circle around the body. This allows many different views of the same organ or structure, and provides much greater detail. The x-ray information is sent to a computer which interprets the x-ray data and displays it in two-dimensional form on a monitor. A newer technology called ultrafast CT (also known as electron-beam tomography, or EBT) is now used, in some cases, to diagnose heart disease. Ultrafast CT can take multiple images of the heart within the time of a single heartbeat, thus, providing more detail about the heart’s function and structures, and also gre
