CT

Author: Mikael Häggström

By location

• 

  CT of the head

• 

  CT of the thorax

• 

  CT of the abdomen and pelvis

• Aorta

• CT of the aorta

With contrast

• Contrast CT

General planning

Upon receiving a referral for a CT, generally check:

• Who is the ordering individual?
• Where: From which unit or department?
• Requested investigation
• Targets: Suspected diseases or other questions or requests
• Patient history

• Possible earlier imaging that can already answer the questions?

Consider if another modality is better for the questions at hand.

Choose the proper CT settings

• Contrast CT and/or non-contrast.
• Include thin slices (0.5 to 1.5 mm) if the skeleton needs to be evaluated.

General post-imaging approach

• Check the order form

• Who is the ordering individual?
• Where: From which unit or department?
• Patient history
• Requested investigation
• Targets:

• Earlier investigations, and their findings
• Examine the images at hand, including:

• Requested targets from the referral, or suspected diseases or other questions
• Basic screening, whose targets vary with mainly anatomic location (see locations above), but broadly include:

• Soft tissues, mainly for tumors or other expansions such as hematomas (see CT of muscle hematoma)
• Skeleton, mainly for fractures (see CT of fractures and tumors (see CT of bone tumors).

• Complement with reconstructions where needed, such as volume renderings or thinner slices.
• Write report

See also: General notes on reporting

Finally, check one extra time if the reply corresponds to the targets at hand.

Hounsfield scale

• Hounsfield scale

Location-unspecific diseases

• CT of cancer