Talk:CT scan

Did you know nomination

The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was: promoted by Vaticidalprophet (talk) 10:45, 20 April 2021 (UTC)

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• ... that the first commercially viable CT scanner was invented by Sir Godfrey Hounsfield in 1972? Source: [1]
  • ALT1:... that CT scans can have 100 to 1,000 times higher radiation dose than conventional X-rays? Source: [2]

Improved to Good Article status by Iflaq (talk). Self-nominated at 10:29, 10 April 2021 (UTC).

• Substantial article, meeting of GA criteria implicates DYK pass. Article was nominated within 7 days of passing GA. Nominator is QPQ exempt. Hooks are interesing, cited, and short enough for DYK. Earwigs shows close paraphrasing in the "Multiplanar reconstruction and projections" and "Volume rendering" sections that need to be resolved before this nomination is passed. Morgan695 (talk) 22:17, 17 April 2021 (UTC)

Thankyou @Morgan695 for the review. I have already started working on it and will resolve the issue soon. Thankyou. Iflaq ^(talk) 06:15, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

@Morgan695, I want to let you know that the issue has been resolved. Iflaq ^(talk) 09:40, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

Close paraphrasing has been resolved. Morgan695 (talk) 15:51, 18 April 2021 (UTC)

Requested move 2 April 2025

• CT scan → Computed tomography
• Coronary CT angiography → Coronary computed tomography angiography
• CT pulmonary angiogram → Computed tomography pulmonary angiography

– We might consider moving this article to "computed tomography", as it is the full technical term, similar to magnetic resonance imaging. Most related articles (operation of computed tomography, electron beam computed tomography, computed tomography of the head/thyroid/chest/abdomen and pelvis, computed tomography angiography, industrial computed tomography, and many more) also use the full term.

Additionally, we should standardize terminology—either using, for instance, "angiograph" or "angiography". The general term for the technology is likely the better choice. While abbreviations should be mentioned in the lead sections, they don’t seem appropriate for article titles. This would also align with WP:MEDMOS and WP:AT. Although "CT scan" may sound more familiar and convenient, "computed tomography" appears to be more commonly used, according to Ngrams. –Tobias (talk) 11:50, 2 April 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose per WP:COMMONNAME. -- Necrothesp (talk) 13:31, 7 April 2025 (UTC)

  That doesn’t really add up, since the more common name is "computed tomography"—not "CT scan", as I already mentioned. –Tobias (talk) 14:52, 7 April 2025 (UTC)

  So, you genuinely think people say "I'm going to have a computed tomography scan now"?! No, they really don't. -- Necrothesp (talk) 10:13, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

  That is not the deciding point. WP:MEDMOS clearly states that titles should follow commonly accepted medical terminology. This means it doesn't matter whether people typically use "computed tomography" in everyday language; what matters is whether the term is preferred by reputable sources. In this case, "computed tomography" is indeed the preferred term—just as "magnetic resonance imaging" is used instead of simply "MRI". The same goes not only for MEDMOS, but WP:COMMONNAME as well ("determined by its prevalence in a significant majority of independent, reliable, English-language sources"). The full term should be used in the title, unless it isn't too cumbersome, then you can start working with abbreviations in the body text. –Tobias (talk) 10:27, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

  Local guidelines do not supersede WP:COMMONNAME and WP:MEDMOS does not contradict it in any case, since CT scan clearly is a "recognised medical name", commonly used in the medical profession. My mother has just had a CT scan. Her consultant certainly did not refer to it as a "computed tomography" scan! He called it a CT scan, just like everyone else does. -- Necrothesp (talk) 14:46, 8 April 2025 (UTC)

  "CT scan", in the narrow sense, isn't even a term at all, let alone a "recognized medical name", it's an abbreviation of the actual name. We don't need to disregard either of those guidelines, as both state the same principle: the term used should be the one most commonly found in reliable and independent sources. Your mother's consultant, while possibly experienced, is not a reliable or independent medical source in the narrow sense. The thing is, while "CT scan" might be more common in spoken everyday language, it is not as prevalent in medical literature—which is crucial for determining appropriate titles. Just look at the Ngram graph or the PubMed search results (751,409 for "computed tomography" vs. 585,036 for "CT scan"): simply feeling that something is more commonly used doesn’t make it so. Both expressions are indeed frequently used, but "computed tomography" is, without a doubt, the more common term across all major corpora and statistical sources. –Tobias (talk) 15:21, 8 April 2025 (UTC)