Spiral CT

**Semantic type:** Diagnostic Procedure

**Definition:** A method of computed tomography (CT) that uses continuous rotation of the X-ray tube and continuous transport of the patient through the scanning aperture that allows the rapid acquisition of a volume of CT data. Advantages over conventional CT include: rapid acquisition of a large volume of data within a single breath-hold, thus minimizing respiration artifact and misregistration between slices; the ability to reconstruct images retrospectively at any level within the scanned volume; optimization of intravenous contrast enhancement due to the short scan times; improved multi-planar and 3-D reconstruction; and the potential for radiation dose reduction. Same as helical computed tomography. (British Journal of Radiology 1994 May;67(797):436-44)

**Synonyms:** - Helical CT - SCT - SPIRAL CT - Spiral Acquisition CT - Spiral Computed Tomography - Spiral Computed Tomography - Spiral Volumetric CT - Volumetric CT - helical computed tomography - spiral CT scan