The Body Scanning Clarification

You may have heard of a Body Scan, but what is it? It could mean two different things, and many people are confused about a body scan internally or a body scan externally. To clarify differences between internal body scans and external body scans, let's examine the functions of a body scan.

One such body scan is a CAT scan, which is an abbreviation for Computer Axel Tomography. CAT technology allows a medical machine to scan the body in a 3-dimentional way. The function of this amazing technology is to search the inside of your body in photographic slices; looking in between the tissues for potential problems. The advantage of this CAT body scan is to discover any problems that may be prevalent in order to find early treatment. You will find this kind of body scan technology at virtually every hospital across the nation.

Another type of body scan is the EBT or Electron Beam Tomography. This technology uses high speed electron beams to course though your body, leaving a detailed 3-D image of your internal organs. This process provides a detailed inside look at you, but the downside is that an EBT body scan exposes you to very minimal radiation compared to regular X-rays. This kind of scanning is used to screen your body on a regular basis to look for any potential harmful damage to your body or any hidden diseases you may have. This kind of body scan can be used as a preventive measure to reveal harmful toxins within the body, such as cancerous lumps, internal organ problems, disorders and many more things.

Now let's compare these medical technology body scans to those at an airport. Because we now live in a world of terrorism, the federal government mandates that all airports must scan people with body scans to search for potential threats. Unlike the CAT or EBT scans - the body scans at an airport are designed to look at the surface of your body - as opposed to internal parts of your body.

There are several other glaring differences between airport body scans versus medical body scans. For example, the EBT body scan uses an electron beam to penetrate your body to obtain its imagery, whereas the WBI (Whole Body Imaging) used by the TSA works by using Millimeter Wave Technology. Millimeter Wave Technology is a process that actually bounces radio frequencies of your body, giving the TSA a detailed image of your body. Although this new technology is considered revolutionary, it doesn't come without controversy. People have filed lawsuits because they say that it violates their privacy. That is because of just how detailed the imagery is; the airport body scans are very detailed. That could be a good thing if someone has a bomb strapped to their ankles, but for some people they feel a body scan violates their personal details.

The bottom line is, one type of body scan is for the inside of your body, while the airport body scanner is only interested on the outside. The one thing that both body scanners have in common is that both machines are searching for something bad to ward off any unwanted or harmful things from occurring.