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| Typical Number in Hospital: 3 | Cost Bands: 4 | References: 3 |
This could refer to any type of analyser (e.g. chemical analyser or frequency analyser) and the term is sometimes applied to devices used in nuclear medicine to collect the number of counts occurring at different pulse heights (different gamma-ray energies). In this latter case a graph or histogram may be plotted showing count rates resulting from different isotopes. Typically there may be 256 channels although there may be as many as 4096.
They are often small computers which can also operate on the results to subtract the counts due to the background radiation leaving only that due to radioactive isotopes in the body. They are often used on whole body scanners.
In clinical chemistry this term may refer to a large analyser (discrete or continuous flow) for performing several tests on each sample.
Content and Design Copyright 2000 Dr. Malcolm C Brown. See Title Page for more details