Canberra Diagnostic Imaging explain uses of CT and MRI

“It has a 16cm field of view which is the largest available” he continues. 

That 16cm detector allows imaging of entire organs such as the heart or brain in one rotation.

He also informed us that this particular machine can perform real-time imaging of cardiac vessels or brain perfusions without the need for digital reconstructive processes.

“CT is useful for oncology staging in conjuction with nuclear medicine and MRI; head and neck, chest and pelvis scans look for secondaries metastases, which is looking for cancer after it’s been diagnosed.”

“Oncology patients will also usually be having follow up scans a few months later” seeing if they have responded to treatment or not.

CT and MRI scanners also have some overlap, each being selected based on which is most appropriate for each patient.

“CT can be better for looking at bones, but the downside is there’s radiation involved” Dr Reidy illustrated.

The CT and MRI machines can also be used in other combinations.

“When we’re using MRI to assess joints we’ll use some dye to provide contrast. We’ll use the CT to get the dye in, then the MRI uses the dye to highlight certain pathologies”.

As for more of CT’s stand-alone uses, Canberra Diagnostic Imaging turn to it a lot for investigation of chest pain or abdominal symptoms.

CT is also “increasingly being used in orthopaedic surgery for treatment of fractures or joint replacements; checking the anatomy, looking at the angles that they need to see” Dr Reidy continues.

“We can use CT for guidance with interventional procedures.” These include spinal injections like an epidural to relieve chronic back pain for certain patients.

Similarly, they can also do CT-guided facet joint, or nerve block, injections.

CT can be used for guidance with a byopsy or for injecting specific material into joints for contrast, an imaging process called arthrography.

To explain the difference between MRI and CT scaning, “MRI is more targeted than CT. CT is good for an overall set of images, whereas MRI is useful for specific targeted or focussed examinations.”

That’s mostly because of the time difference required to do each type of scan.

For instance, “Replacing an abdomen CT with abdomen MRI would be a couple of hours, whereas CT can do most overall examinations in under a minute.”

MRI also has a very important advantage.

“MRI’s greatest strength is for imaging a soft tissue. It shows much better difference in the characteristics of soft tissue compared with any other modality apart from perhaps ultrasound in some instances.”

As examples, MRI is very suited to scanning ligaments, tendons and joints.

“MRI is good for assessing structures within the brain, spinal cord and nerve roots.”

Additionally, “MRI is the most sensitive and specific type available when doing breast and prostate scans. It’s also one of the best for liver.”

Due to the extremely powerful magnet involved, those with certain pacemakers or other devices may not be suitable for an MRI. 

Fortunately, in response to MRI’s increased use “many devices added to patients these days are now compatible with MRI.”

You can find out more by visiting www.healthcareimaging.com.au.