Where is "enhanced CT"?

The doctor suggested enhanced CT. What is enhanced CT?

It is said that a whole bottle of medicine should be injected into the blood vessel with a indwelling needle, and it should be on an empty stomach and bring drinking water. ...

I heard there are side effects? I panicked. Can't you do an ordinary CT? Why do you need enhanced CT?

The difference between enhanced CT and ordinary CT is the word "enhanced". Ordinary CT is called "plain scan" and "enhancement" refers to injecting a water-soluble iodine contrast agent into vein during examination. After injection of contrast agent, the blood flow of the diseased tissue can be observed and compared with the surrounding normal tissue. It can be used to distinguish the nature of the lesion, whether the blood supply is rich, whether the enhancement is uneven, whether there is necrosis inside, whether there is bleeding, whether it is benign or malignant, and hints can be obtained through enhanced scanning.

Enhanced scanning can also dynamically observe the arterial phase, venous phase and delayed phase of the lesion. Therefore, enhanced scanning is more accurate than ordinary scanning, and can obtain more information, which is more helpful for differential diagnosis. In some cases, plain scan can not be qualitative, especially the tumor lesions of solid organs, so doctors will recommend enhanced scan.

Before enhanced CT, medical staff will inform patients in detail about the use of iodine contrast agent to ensure that they are fully informed, and patients with relevant medical history should also inform medical staff truthfully. At present, all the non-ionic iodine contrast agents with high safety are used in clinic. The production process is very mature and advanced, and the probability of allergies is relatively small, so patients and their families need not be overly nervous.

1. Who are the high-risk groups for iodine contrast agent allergy?

Although the probability of iodine contrast agent allergy is relatively small, it still happens from time to time, and in some cases it can even be very serious. So who should we pay special attention to?

1, never use iodine contrast agent.

Untreated hyperthyroidism patients: thyroid iodine intake may lead to hyperthyroidism crisis.

2. People who should use iodine contrast media with caution.

(1) Severe heart and lung diseases;

(2) Patients with renal insufficiency need to see a doctor to confirm their renal function, and then see if iodine contrast agent can be used for enhanced CT.

(3) Diabetic patients who are taking metformin need to see a doctor first to confirm their renal function during taking metformin, and then see if they can do enhanced CT, or if they need to temporarily stop taking metformin and then do enhanced CT.

3. The following six groups of people belong to high-risk groups.

(1) People who had allergic reactions to contrast media in the past should be highly vigilant when using contrast media again.

(2) Serious allergic reactions caused by allergic reactions to unexpected substances have occurred in the past;

(3) allergic to many drugs;

(4) Long-term oral glucocorticoid;

(5) Have a history of asthma;

(6) allergic to non-steroidal drugs, such as aspirin.

Second, do you want to do an iodine contrast agent allergy test?

The Working Group on the Safe Use of Contrast Agents of Radiology Branch of Chinese Medical Association (2nd Edition) believes that iodine allergy test is unnecessary unless there are special requirements in the product manual.

Third, what are the side effects of CT enhancement?

After using contrast media, patients need to be hospitalized for at least 30 minutes, because 90% of the side effects occur during this time. High-risk patients should be observed for a longer time.

Allergic reactions often occur in the skin, cardiovascular, respiratory and gastrointestinal systems. The most common adverse reactions are skin reactions, mostly acute attacks. Mild acute allergic reaction can only show localized urticaria and itching, while severe acute allergic reaction can cause diffuse facial and laryngeal edema, bronchospasm and dyspnea, leading to anaphylactic shock and even respiratory and cardiac arrest.

Due to the enhanced use of high-pressure syringes, the injection speed is fast, and in rare cases, such as chemotherapy and diabetes, contrast agent extravasation may occur. Puncture local tissue swells and glows, and even the skin breaks and turns black. There is no need to panic in this situation. As long as you actively cooperate with the doctor's treatment, you can generally recover in a short time.