Focal plane tomography

Focal plane tomography
An orthopantomograph, which uses focal plane tomography.
Purposetomography imaging a single plane/slice
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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]

  1. ^ Pickens, D. R.; Price, R. R.; Patton, J. A.; Erickson, J. J.; Rollo, F. D.; Brill, A. B. (1980). "Focal-Plane Tomography Image Reconstruction". IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science. 27 (1): 489–492. Bibcode:1980ITNS...27..489P. doi:10.1109/TNS.1980.4330874. ISSN 0018-9499. S2CID 30852566.
  2. ^ Kevles, Bettyann (1997). Naked to the Bone: Medical Imaging in the Twentieth Century. Rutgers University Press. p. 108. ISBN 9780813523583.
  3. ^ Van Gijn, Jan; Gijselhart, Joost P. (2010-06-23). "Ziedses des Plantes: uitvinder van planigrafie en subtractie" (PDF). Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde (in Dutch).