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This glossary covers the
vocabulary used in the video and on the website, but is not a medical dictionary!
Online medical dictionaries may be found here
and here.
The Aorta is the largest artery. It starts at the heart and supplies the extremities, neck, and major organs with oxygenated blood.
An aneurism is a like a blood-filled balloon in an artery, caused by the collapse of the artery wall.
Computed Tomography is a development from the X-ray. In contrast to normal X-rays, CT allows images to be generated of deep internal structures (Organs, for example). It does this by taking many separate X-rays of a single slice of the body, and then reconstructing them using a computer.
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The coronal view is a slice taken through the body from top to bottom, parallel with the shoulders, giving us a view as if seen from the front. |
An echocardiogram is an ultrasound scan of the heart.
The Hertz is the unit of measurement for frequency. One Hertz is once per second. It is often used to measure waves. Sound waves, for example, fall in the range from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, also written as 20 KHz, or KiloHertz.
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MR uses very strong magnetic fields to distinguish the different magnetic properties of different forms of tissue - in particular, their water content. The images that an MR scanner generates can give unrivalled levels of interior detail, as in this scan of the head |
Pixels are the tiny dots which computers use to draw images. This is similar to the way newspapers use many tiny dots to build up a photo. The word comes originally from 'picture element'. The screen you are reading this on might typically have 800x600 or 1024x768 separate pixels.
A rhizotomy is a procedure where nerves in the spine or cranium are cut.
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The sagittal view is a slice taken from front to back in the body. It shows us a profile. |
Scintigraphy is a technique where the patient is injected with or swallows a mildly radioactive substance (Gallium, for example) and an image is made of the radiation. As different parts of the body take up the radioactive substance at different rates, this technique can show metabolic effects.
A stent is a tube of metal or plastic which is inserted into a vessel or passage to keep it open. This could be done, for example, to help maintain the flow of blood in a damaged aorta.
Terahertz imaging uses pulses of high frequency light from lasers to scan the body. The lightwaves used have a frequency of above a million million Hertz, hence the name 'TeraHertz'.
Thresholding is one way to try and separate useful information out of raw data. In medical imaging, this might mean finding a bone in a CT scan of the leg. It works by taking the range of grey shades in an image and redrawing it with only two colours. All shades darker than the threshold value become black, whilst those lighter become white.
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The transverse view is a horizontal slice taken through the body, parallel with the ground. |
Trigeminal means "to do with the fifth pair of cranial nerves",. These are known as trigeminal because they spilt into three main branches on each side of the head.
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Ultrasound uses high frequency sound waves to penetrate the body. By measuring echos caused when these soundwaves reflect back from internal structures, an image can be built up. The image shows a baby after twelve weeks of pregnancy. |
A voxel is a three dimensional picture element, the smallest piece of a 3D scan. A medical scan of a head or a heart might include many millions of these tiny coloured dots.
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X-rays are a type of radiation. They are widely used in medicine as they pass through flesh but are absorbed by bone. |