What does tomograph mean?
A tomograph is a technical term for an imaging instrument that examines the hidden structure of an object by detecting waves or radiation passing through it. In medicine, tomographs may use X-rays, ultrasound, magnetic fields, or other forms of radiation to create cross-sectional images of the body. The term is related to tomography, the general imaging technique, and to a tomogram, an individual image produced by that technique. A tomograph itself commonly refers to the device, although some definitions also allow it to refer to the resulting record. The word is chiefly associated with radiology, diagnostic imaging, and scientific research rather than everyday speech. It is useful because it names the specific instrument behind a cross-sectional image and distinguishes that instrument from both the imaging process and the individual image it produces.
nounA tomograph is an instrument, especially a medical imaging device, that produces a record or image of an object's internal structure by using waves or radiation. The resulting image, sometimes also called a tomograph, commonly depicts cross-sectional slices rather than a single flat view.
- An instrument that produces a tomographic record by detecting waves or radiation passing through an object.
- A tomographic image or record, especially a cross-sectional medical image.
"The hospital used a CT tomograph to examine the patient's chest in cross-section."
"The radiologist reviewed the images produced by the new tomograph."
"The report included a tomograph showing the location of the small fracture."
The standard plural of the noun is tomographs.
"The clinic has two tomographs installed in separate imaging rooms."
Instead of taking one flat picture, a tomograph combines many measurements to reveal an object's hidden interior.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of tomograph
Tomograph combines the Greek-derived element tomo-, meaning a section or slice, with graph, from Greek graphein, meaning to write or record. The terminology developed with the emergence of cross-sectional imaging techniques in the early twentieth century. Related English words include tomography, tomogram, tomographer, and tomographic, all sharing the same roots.
Related word forms
How tomograph is actually used
Tomograph is chiefly a formal scientific and medical term. In specialist usage it usually refers to the imaging device, while the more familiar words scanner and tomogram are often preferred when discussing individual images or systems.
Easily confused with tomograph
A tomograph is the instrument or the resulting record, whereas tomography is the imaging method or process used to create such a record.
A tomogram is specifically the cross-sectional image produced by tomography, while a tomograph more commonly denotes the device that produces it, though the word may also be used for the image.