Focal plane tomography | |
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Purpose | tomography imaging a single plane/slice |
In radiography, focal plane tomography[1] is tomography (imaging a single plane, or slice, of an object) by simultaneously moving the X-ray generator and X-ray detector so as to keep a consistent exposure of only the plane of interest during image acquisition. This was the main method of obtaining tomographs in medical imaging until the late-1970s. It has since been largely replaced by more advanced imaging techniques such as CT and MRI. It remains in use today in a few specialized applications, such as for acquiring orthopantomographs of the jaw in dental radiography.
Focal plane tomography’s development began in the 1930s as a means of reducing the problem of superimposition of structures which is inherent to projectional radiography.[2] It was invented in parallel by, among others, by the French physician Bocage, the Italian radiologist Alessandro Vallebona and the Dutch radiologist Bernard George Ziedses des Plantes.[3]