Only after a preliminary x-ray diagnostic is conducted can a computertomographic examination provide further diagnostic information. During the examination, an x-ray tube circling around the patient sends flat, fan-like x-ray beams through the body. On the other side of the x-ray tube, a row of detectors registers exactly how much radiation at which point has penetrated through the tissue.

Because the x-ray projector and detectors circle the patient once for each photograph, all organs and tissue in the layer are photographed from nearly a thousand directions. That gives hundreds of thousands of measurements that are sent to the computer, which processes them into a "Tomogram" - to a cross-section of the body. This cross-section is displayed on a monitor. It shows the bones, joints, spinal column, and soft tissue in layers, but with much greater perceivable detail.

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