The difference between ct and enhanced ct

CT examination is a very important examination method and plays a very important role in imaging. Generally, CT is divided into two types: plain scan and enhanced scan. Many people easily confuse CT and enhanced CT. In fact, there are certain differences between the two. CT is like a pair of sharp eyes. It can tell whether a person has any disease with just one look. However, most people are not clear about the difference between CT and enhanced CT. The following introduces the difference between CT and enhanced CT.

The difference between CT and enhanced CT

The full name of CT is Computed Tomography, which is essentially an X-ray examination, except that it is a cross-sectional scan. CT is an indispensable examination method in clinical practice and can provide a lot of diagnostic information.

There are two types of CT scans: plain CT scan and enhanced CT scan. CT plain scan refers to a simple scan without the use of an enhancement agent; while CT enhanced scan involves intravenous injection of iodinated contrast agent during the scan. The main difference between plain scan and enhanced scan is that contrast agent is injected in enhanced scan, which can observe the blood flow of lesions and provide more information than plain scan CT. For example, in the picture below, a plain scan can only show a low-density lesion in the liver, while an enhanced scan can show the blood flow of the lesion in the arterial phase, portal vein phase and venous phase, which is very helpful for diagnosis.

When is enhanced CT necessary?

As long as the diagnosis of plain scan CT is not very clear and inconsistent with the clinical diagnosis, an enhanced CT examination can be performed. At this time, some patients and their families will not understand. We have already spent hundreds of dollars on a CT scan, why do we need to do another CT scan? Are you doctors just thinking about making money? This is not the case. If plain scan CT can solve the problem, we will definitely not prescribe enhanced CT.

However, not every patient can undergo enhanced CT, and enhanced CT also has contraindications. For example, patients who are allergic to iodine contrast agents need to undergo a skin test before undergoing enhanced CT. If the skin test result is positive, then enhanced CT cannot be performed. In addition, the contrast agent must be metabolized by the kidneys. If the kidney function is not good, enhanced scanning should be performed with extreme caution. Because iodinated contrast agents are used, patients with hyperthyroidism are not suitable for enhanced scanning, because hyperthyroidism patients will absorb a large amount of iodine, which may aggravate the hyperthyroidism.

In short, enhanced CT can observe the blood flow of lesions, which is more accurate than ordinary CT. If the plain CT scan suspects a problem or does not find any problem and you want to further confirm the diagnosis, you can do an enhanced CT scan.