CT chest (summary)
Updates to Article Attributes
Chest CT is a computed tomography examination of the thoracic cavity performed for a variety of reasons, from suspected cancer to penetrating chest trauma.
A CT chest can be performed with or without IV contrast and when IV contrast is given, the timing of the contrast delivery can make a massive difference to the ability of the study to answer a specific question. This makes asking a specific question very important, as well as providing appropriate clinical information.
A standard CT chest will be performed with IV contrast and triggered after approximately 20 seconds when the contrast is within the arterial system.
Reference article
This is a summary article; read more in our article on CT chest.
Summary
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indications (acute)
- suspected lung cancer
- complex chest infection, e.g. suspected abscess or empyema
- complex pleural disease
- vascular disease
- chest trauma (blunt or penetrating)
- important pathology
-
benefits
- quick and relatively accessible
- excellent anatomic detail
- fantastic localisation of disease
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limitations
- radiation dose
- size and location of cannula will limit vascular assessment
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procedure
- patient positioned supine in CT scanner
- contrast injected into a peripheral cannula
- CT clavicles to costophrenic angles
- scan when contrast density in aortic reaches a specific value
Similar tests
-
variationschest x-rayfirst line test for chest pathology
- CTPA
- CT pulmonary angiogram
- contrast examination of the pulmonary arterial system
- CTA chest
- CT angiogram
- aka. CT aorta
- contrast examination of the arterial system
- requires rapid injection of contrast
- HRCT
- non-contrast examination
- assessment of lung parenchyma
- may be performed as selected
-slicesslices or as a volume
-
chest x-ray
- first line test for chest pathology
-</ul><h4>Similar tests</h4><ul>-<a href="/articles/chest-x-ray-summary">chest x-ray</a><ul><li>first line test for chest pathology</li></ul>-</li>-<li>CTPA<ul><li>contrast examination of the pulmonary arterial system</li></ul>- +<strong>variations</strong><ul>
- +<li>CTPA<ul>
- +<li>CT pulmonary angiogram</li>
- +<li>contrast examination of the pulmonary arterial system</li>
- +</ul>
- +<li>CT angiogram</li>
- +<li>aka. CT aorta</li>
-<li>may be performed as selected-slices or as a volume</li>- +<li>may be performed as selected slices or as a volume</li>
- +</ul>
- +</li>
- +<li>
- +<strong>similar tests</strong><ul><li>
- +<a href="/articles/chest-x-ray-summary">chest x-ray</a><ul><li>first line test for chest pathology</li></ul>
- +</li></ul>
- +</li>