CT - THORACO-ABDOMINAL AORTA ANGIOGRAM

CT

CT - THORACO-ABDOMINAL AORTA ANGIOGRAM How does CT work? CT uses X-rays to perform its work. These X-rays come from an X-ray tube which is placed inside a square machine called the gantry. The part of your body to be scanned goes inside a hole in this gantry. Why is CT such a good modality? Ordinary X-ray pictures are one-dimensional representations of body parts but CT allows us to section the body to view its inner parts. Thus, the skull X-ray only shows us the outer part, whereas CT shows us the inner parts of the brain. Where is CT useful? All parts of the body can be scanned with CT. For each part, there are specific indications or reasons for scanning. Your referring doctor and the consultant radiologist are the best judges of the usefulness of CT scanning in a specific situation and areas. Are there any dangers of CT scanning? Though X-rays involve radiation, there are no dangers, in practice. In women who are pregnant, however, CT scanning should be done after weighing all the risks. What is the injection that I may receive? Majority of the patients will be injected with a "dye" which enhances the ability of CT scans to pick up abnormalities. This is routine. The dye used is a non-ionic contrast medium, which is much safer than the routine, cheaper, ionic dyes. Are there any complications because of the "dye"? 0.5% of patients may get nausea and redness of the skin. Though severe reactions are known, these are very rare and uncommon.