Winter 1976

“Yale-New Haven Hospital is one of the first hospitals in the nation to use a computerized axial tomographic scanner. This new diagnostic instrument, which is similar to the brain scanner, is capable of producing extremely detailed images of any part of the body. ... Combining X-ray and computer technology, the scanner produces a television image of the body in cross section, which is actually a computer-reconstructed image of a selected area of the body, seen on two television screens, one color and one black and white. The colors represent different densities of body tissue, such as the difference between blood and brain. The scan image also shows the relationship of the body parts in depth. This is an advance over conventional X-ray films, which cannot “see” a difference between body structures aligned over one another.”