THE EFFECTIVENESS OF CT SCAN IN DETECTING ABNORMALITIES AND CANCER

CT scanners have been in existence for over a decade now and continue to grow in popularity. Facts are, the product manufacturers keep on improving their products and technology continues to advance as it pertains to examining the body for harmful diseases or identifying abnormalities.

For those that are unfamiliar with CT exams, we wish to educate you on CT scan technology and how useful it is in our lives.

WHAT IS A CT SCAN

CT is an acronym for Computerized Tomography. Now, CT scanner is an advanced type of X-ray machine. This scanner utilizes computer processes and several x-ray measurements taken from different points to produce a cross-sectional image of a specific area of the body. Things like bones, tissues, organs and other body components can easily be seen in high detailed photos.

WHAT A CT SCAN CAN DETECT

1. It is used to detect different types of cancer; these cancers include kidney, bowel, lung and liver cancer.
2. It is used to determine the cause of sudden, rapid symptoms like abdominal pain and breathlessness.
3. It is used to discover and treat a lot of vascular diseases which can lead to kidney failure, blood clots in lungs, and stroke if left undetected or treated.
4. With CT scan, patients with AAAs (abdominal aortic aneurysm) condition are discovered and treated to avoid rupture of the enlarged arteries.
5. CT scan helps doctors pinpoint a tumor, note the size and through the information obtained, plan an effective treatment through radiotherapy.
6. It is used to determine and analyze spinal problems.
7. It is used to diagnose and examine injuries affecting skeletal structures.
8. History of CT scans helps doctors determine the progress of treatment like cancer.
9. It is used to determine with high accuracy bleeding in the brain, brain damages and brain tumors.
10. It is used to find out abscesses in the body and evaluate the type of lung disease a patient has.
11. With a CT scan, doctors can efficiently carry out biopsies and therapeutic procedures.
12. It is also used to detect and treat internal injuries.

HOW IT SHOWS

A CT scan shows the components of a body in slice or cross-section images. These images usually reveal the bodies organs, soft tissues, and bones in a more precise and highly detailed form, making it more useful than a Standard X-ray.

Furthermore, when it comes to tumor treatment, the CT scan offers doctor an effective means of determining the size, location and form of a neoplasm. Also, the blood vessels feeding the tumor are revealed when the scan results are in. All these functions are performed without a cut on the patient’s body.

However, some doctors can go further with CT functions; they can utilize a CT scanner as a guide to insert needles into tumors or other tissues when a treatment demands it. Some cancer treatments like Radiofrequency ablation is one of such procedures.

Hence, we can say that the CT scanner is a very essential and cost-effective tool to determine and treat abnormalities.

HOW A CT SCAN WORKS?

A CT Scanner applies a thin beam to the body of a patient, thereby, taking pictures of a specific part of the patient’s body from different points. These photos are then transferred to the computer where a black and white image is formed revealing in details the part of the body being examined.

However, when there are areas that should be made more vivid, a unique contrast material is utilized to achieve this. Furthermore, with some CT image slices overlaying each other, the CT scanner can create a 3-D image of said area which can be rotated by the computer to see more explicitly the affected region.