CT scan

What is an CT scan?

CT is a radiological method which has been used since 1974 to visualize certain regions of your body slice by slice. Today, CT technology is an indispensable tool in medicine. It is used for routine examinations of the entire body. With the aid of computed tomography, physiciansare now able to look into the coronary arteries without having to introduce a catheter. CT allows true-to-detail three dimensional images of the inside of the heart and other parts of the body. Virtual endoscopy enables a computer-aided flight through blood vessels and cavities in the body. The physician can for example examine the condition of the intestinal walls - non-invasively.

Preparing for an CT

To ensure that optimal results are obtained, your cooperation is required. Please talk to the physician referring you to CT. He will give you detailed information on how to prepare yourself for the examination. Be sure to tell your doctor if you are pregnant. Like other X-ray examinations, CT scans should not be performed during pregnancy because of the exposure to radiation.
A few general tips:

What happens during an CT Scan?

During the examination you will be lying on a comfortable patient table (usually on your back). This table will then slowly move you through the opening of the examination unit called the gantry. All you need to do now is pay attention to the instructions of the CT personnel who may, for example, ask you to briefly hold your breath or not to move certain regions of your body. As with conventional X-ray examinations, you will not feel the acquisition of CT images at all; you will only hear a low whirring noise. The patient table will move slightly during the entire examination. While you are in the gantry, the X-ray system is taking extremely detailed cross-sectional images of your body. Based on the data acquired, the computer then generates the so-called result images. This way it aids your physician in reliably and precisely visualizing and then diagnosing the presence or absence of disease inside your body.

Finding out the Results

The radiologist analyzes the images and sends a report of the diagnosis to your referring doctor, who will then discuss the results of the CT examination with you.