What To Expect Before Your CT Scan: St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center | Steward Family Hospital

Below you will find information on what to expect before your CT Scan

• Medications: It is important for you to keep to your regular medication schedule. Please take all the medications that have been prescribed to you by your doctor. Just let our staff know what medications you have taken prior to your test. Please bring your list of medications with you to your appointment.
• Food and drink: You should not eat solid foods for two hours prior to your test if you are having a CT scan of your abdomen and/or pelvis, or if you are having any CT for which IV contrast will be injected. You may, however, drink plenty of fluids, such as water, broth, clear soups, juice, or black decaffeinated coffee or tea. We encourage you to drink plenty of fluids before your arrival to our department.
• When to arrive: If you are having a CT scan of your abdomen or pelvis, you need to arrive two hours before your scheduled appointment. This is to allow time for you to drink barium sulfate before your exam and to ensure that the barium fluid completely coats your gastrointestinal tract. The barium helps to highlight body areas for the CT scan. If you are having a scan of a body part other than the abdomen you should arrive  30 minutes before your appointed time.
• Kidney function labwork before exam: Many CT scans require injection of intravenous contrast solution (dye). Many patients, including all patients over age 60 and certain patients with other medical conditions that can predispose to kidney disease, will need to have current kidney function labs within 30 days of imaging. If lab results are not available, patients may need to have blood drawn in the radiology department prior to imaging. This is for your safety, as patients with significantly diminished kidney function are at increased risk for kidney damage from IV contrast.
• What to wear: You should dress in comfortable clothing. If you are wearing jewelry or anything else that might interfere with your scan, we will ask you to remove it.
• Diabetic conditions: If you are an insulin-dependent diabetic, please continue to take your insulin as prescribed, but be prepared to drink fruit juice as needed while you fast for two hours in preparation for your CT scan.
• Intravenous preparation: Many patients receive a contrast agent intravenously (IV) during their CT test. If your doctor or the radiologist has determined that this procedure will enhance your CT scan results, the technologist will place an IV in your arm or hand prior to going into the test.
• Hydration Protocol: Some patients with abnormal kidney lab values will require intravenous hydration to reduce the chance that IV contrast will cause kidney impairment, to which they are more susceptible. This requires a four hour stay in the radiology department and can only be accommodated by advance appointment during regular business hours. Sodium bicarbonate solution is used for gentle hydration before and after imaging.

What Is A CT Scan?

A CT scan is a valuable, painless imaging study that allows the radiologist to see a cross section or 3-D image of any part of the body.

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What will happen during my scan?

Learn what you will experience during your CT scan so you are prepared for your procedure.

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Learn more about the type of CT scan you are having.

• Abdomen / Pelvic
• Cardiac
• Chest
• Low-dose chest CT for lung cancer screening
• Head / temporal bone
• Sinus / orbital / facial
• Scan of the extremities
• Spine (cervical, thoracic, lumbar)
• Virtual Colonoscopy

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What to Expect

• What to Expect at Your CT Scan
• How to Prepare for a CT Scan

You will be asked to fill out a short medical history questionnaire before your CT scan. Once completed, you may be asked to remove jewelry and metal objects, such as watches, necklaces, eyeglasses, and the like.

If your chest, abdomen, or pelvis are being scanned, you may need to change into a hospital gown. If the exam will use IV contrast, an IV line will be placed by the CT technologist once the patient is in the exam room (see general instructions). You will lie on a table that slides into the scanner.

Most CT exams take about five minutes. You will be required to remain still during this time.

General Instructions

Instructions for taking Oral Contrast (Barium Sulfate)

1. Do not eat or drink anything three hours prior to your appointment time.
2. Shake the contrast well before drinking. It does not need to be refrigerated, but tastes better when cold.
3. Begin drinking the contrast one and a half hours before your scheduled exam time. Drink one-third of a bottle every fifteen minutes. Save the last third and bring it with you to your appointment.

If you are taking the drug Glucophage (or something similar) for diabetes, please let the technologist know before you are scanned. If you are allergic to iodine or have had a reaction to CT dye in the past, please call as soon as possible to receive special instructions and medications.

Enteroclysis Drinking Instructions (Volumon Contrast )

1. Do not eat or drink three hours prior to your appointment time.
2. Shake the contrast well before drinking. It does not need to be refrigerated, but tastes better when cold.
3. Begin drinking the contrast one hour prior to your scheduled exam time. Drink first bottle in 20 min, drink second bottle in 20 min, and half of the third bottle in 20 min. Save the last half of the third bottle for visit to CT.

Intravenous Contrast (Dye) Allergies

If you previously had an allergic reaction to intravenous contrast (dye) for a CT scan, angiogram, or heart catheterization, you must take the 13-hour premedication preparation (doctor prescribed).

Enteroclysis

• For enteroclysis do not eat or drink 6 hours prior to your exam.

Biopsy/Drain Placements

• For biopsy or drain placement, do not eat or drink after midnight.

IV Sedation

If sedated by IV, you must do the following:

• Do not eat or drink anything after midnight or eight hours previous.
• Bring someone to drive you home.

General Anesthesia

If the procedure will be performed while you are under general anesthesia (doctor prescribed), you must do the following:

• Arrive one and a half hours early to check into admitting.
• Do not eat or drink anything eight hours previous.

CT with contrast

Computed tomography with contrast is a procedure that is performed to study the functioning of the large vessels of the body that provide blood flow to most tissues and organs. In order for the aortas and veins to be better displayed on the screen of the device, a special contrast agent is used. The drug is taken on an empty stomach or injected directly into a vein.

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CT with contrast allows you to get a 3D image of the area under study, which makes it easy to determine the presence of formations, their contours and localization. The procedure is carried out in order to identify pathologies of the heart muscle and large vessels.

Contrast is performed by introducing a contrast agent into the body. Barium sulfate or gastrografin is used as the active ingredient. The second drug is considered safer, so it is used if necessary for surgical intervention. Gastrografin spreads quite quickly throughout the body and dissolves easily in liquid. If the active ingredient is taken orally, it is mixed with 1 liter of water. So, for the indicated unit of liquid, about 300 ml of barium sulfate and 10-20 ml of gastrografin are needed. Reception is made exclusively on an empty stomach one hour before the examination. If CT with contrast is focused on the study of organs and tissues outside the abdominal cavity, or it is simply necessary to amplify the signal, the active component is introduced into the body of the subject through a dropper. As a rule, it takes 15-25 seconds for the substance to travel from the cubital vein to the abdominal aorta. The tomograph automatically adjusts to the desired scanning mode and takes a series of images, starting from the patient’s head and ending with the legs.

CT scan with contrast is intended for examination of patients with the following pathologies:

• abscesses, cysts and other neoplasms;
• inflammatory changes in blood vessels, organs and tissues;
• impaired functioning of the liver, kidneys, intestines;
• pathological processes in the brain
• aneurysm and other deformities of large vessels.

Before a cardiac CT scan, the patient is additionally given drugs that reduce the heart rate. As a rule, beta-blockers are used for such purposes. They allow you to increase the accuracy of the analysis and thoroughly examine the structure of the heart muscle.

Despite the fact that computed tomography can diagnose diseases at an early stage, it is contraindicated for some people. So, it is highly undesirable to resort to the procedure if the patient suffers from heart failure. Such an examination is also contraindicated for people with an allergy to iodine. After the injection, they develop dizziness, shortness of breath, and nausea. In critical cases, in the presence of allergies, vomiting and loss of consciousness are possible.

In other cases, the use of contrast makes the diagnosis much more efficient. The diagnostic technique makes it possible to identify even minor pathologies and start treatment in a timely manner.

Barium x-ray | Diagnostic Center Health Clinic on Maroseyka

• X-ray of the stomach with barium

Study duration : 15 min.

Preparation for examination : yes

Contraindications : yes

Preparation of conclusion : 30-60 min.

Restrictions : Call

for details
Radiography with barium sulfate is aimed at studying the state of the gastrointestinal tract. The contrast medium facilitates the examination of the internal organs, their relief, contours and shape, dimensions.

Essence of the method

Hollow organs are difficult to fully visualize, so a mixture of barium is injected before scanning. It stains tissues that are shaded on x-rays. Thus, in the picture of the examination, the walls of the large intestine, parts of the small intestine, stomach, esophagus are clearly seen, and foci of pathologies are identified.

Indications for examination

The doctor issues a referral for diagnostics in case of the following complaints:

• Abdominal pain.
• Persistent diarrhea or constipation.
• Changes in the color and structure of feces.
• Admixture of blood in the stool.
• A sharp decrease in body weight.
• Intestinal gases.

Preparation for barium x-ray

If it is planned to inject barium sulfate before the X-ray, the patient should prepare in advance for the procedure:

• Follow the diet for 2-3 days. It is necessary to stop taking flour, dairy, spicy, smoked foods, legumes, black bread, carbonated drinks. Food should be easily digestible.
• For a day, cleanse the intestines with laxatives. The dosage and number of doses is calculated according to the instructions in accordance with the weight. With proper cleansing, an enema is not needed.

The barium x-ray is taken on an empty stomach in the morning, so you should not eat breakfast before the scan. You should leave jewelry at home, wear loose-fitting clothes without metal inserts.

How a barium x-ray is performed

First, the doctor injects a contrast agent. Usually 400-600 ml of barium sulfate solution is given in liquid form. The patient drinks it and waits for 10-15 minutes.

Next, the subject takes the desired position, scanning begins, which lasts 50-60 minutes. During this time, the patient lies motionless, and the device takes 6 to 10 shots to assess the state of the gastrointestinal tract in dynamics. If necessary, the doctor asks to roll over.

Barium is excreted from the body within 24 hours. To speed up, it is recommended to drink more non-carbonated water.

Where to get a barium x-ray

In the Health Clinic, located in the very center of the capital, the examination is carried out on modern high-precision expert-class equipment. Qualified doctors with extensive experience will carefully examine the internal organs and prepare images.

RECORDING FOR X-RAY WITH BARIUM

Patients of the Diagnostic Center are provided with free parking. Reservation of a place for a car is made no later than one hour before arrival at the clinic. You can get a consultation by phone: +7 (495) 628-22-05

Research results

Within an hour, a specialist from the Health Clinic interprets the images, and then hands them over to the patient. The attending physician, based on the results of the examination, establishes or refutes such diseases as stomach ulcers, tumors of various etiologies, protrusion of the gastric walls, intestinal obstruction, hernia, dyskinesia, etc.

Barium x-ray recording

To avoid queues and long waiting, you should pre-register for the procedure in a convenient way:

• By calling.
• Book an appointment through the website.

RECORDING FOR X-RAY WITH BARIUM

Contraindications

It is necessary to choose a different diagnostic method if there are the following restrictions on X-ray with barium:

• Pregnancy.
• barium intolerance.
• Bleeding in the intestines.

Barium x-ray price

It became possible to make an x-ray with barium cheaply in Moscow at the Health Clinic. Low prices, ongoing promotions and quality services attract visitors to our medical center.