scintill-, scintil-, scinti-

1. Sparkling; a subjective sensation, as of seeing sparks.
2. A tiny flash of light, especially one produced in certain substances (scintillators) when a photon or an ionizing particle deposits energy in the scintillator by ionizing one or more atoms.

Typically there is one scintillation for each ionizing event. The flashes can be counted electronically, and the average count rate then measures the intensity of the incident radiation.

3. The action of scintillating; emission of sparks or spark-like flashes of light; a spark.
4. The twinkling or tremulous motion of the light from fixed stars or a rapid twinkling of stars caused by constant small changes in the atmosphere's density.
5. A small flash of visible or ultraviolet light emitted by fluorescence in a phosphor when it is struck by a charged particle or high-energy photon.
6. Figuratively, a flash, a brilliant display (of wit or thought).

1. A substance that emits visible light when hit by a subatomic particle or x-or gamma ray.
2. A phosphor capable of producing scintillations.

1. Scintillating feebly: "My mother walked home in the scintillescent starlight while the darkness pressed in on her from the countryside."
2. Sparkling or twinkling.

1. An instrument for measuring the intensity of the scintillation of the stars.
2. A device containing a scintillator for detecting and measuring low intensities of ionizing radiation.
3. A device for detecting and measuring radioactivity, having a crystal scintillator, a photoelectric cell sensitive to the light from scintillations, and an amplifier.

1. An instrument in which alpha rays are detected by the flashes of light that are emitted when they strike a fluorescent screen.
2. An instrument for measuring gamma rays emitted by a radioactive body.

A scintigraphic imaging technique that uses the radioisotope technetium tetrofosmin (Tc-99 tetrofosmin) to search for breast cancer.

The image obtained by scintiphotography.

1. Photographing the scintillations emitted by radioactive substances injected into the body; used to determine the outline and function of organs and tissues in which the radioactive substance collects or is secreted.
2. The process of obtaining a photographic recording of the distribution of an internally administered radiopharmaceutical with the use of a gamma camera.

Scintigraphy of the kidney.

1. An autoradiograph obtained with a scintiscanner.
2. The use of scintiphotography to create a map of scintillations produced when a radioactive substance is introduced into the body.

The intensity of the record indicates the differential accumulation of a substance in the various parts of the body.

A motor-driven probe with an automatic recording device, producing an image on paper or on x-ray film: The scintiscanner is usually interfaced with a computer that processes the data to give more informative reading.

Not sparkling; not emitting sparks.