CT Imaging and CT-guided Pain Injections – Faster, Safer, More Detailed Imaging than X-ray

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CT (Computed Tomography) is a non-invasive medical test used to create cross-sectional images of the inside of the body. The CT scanner’s imager rotates around the body 360 degrees, taking pictures and sending them to a computer screen for viewing, printing and storage. CT scanning offers detailed views of many types of tissue, including the lungs, bones, soft tissues and blood vessels.
“We use only 16-slice helical scanners at our two CT locations,” says RAO radiologist Dr. Malcom Williamson. “The 16-slice CTs provides more tomographic images (slices) than less sophisticated scanners, so we can capture more images in less time, often with less exposure to radiation.”
The 16-slice CT’s advanced speed enables your RAO radiologist to spot small lesions that can frequently go undetected using other methods. Depending on the area being studied, a contrast agent may be used to better visualize organs and structures that might not be seen otherwise. CT’s “virtual colonoscopy” may be able to replace traditional colonoscopy to discover disorders of the bowel without insertion of a catheter, decreasing discomfort and lowering the chance of infection. In many cases, CT can be used as a barium enema to spot bowel tumors with less radiation exposure.
Using CT to Arrest Pain
CT guidance provides greater accuracy for pain injections, enabling your RAO radiologist to pinpoint the source of back or neck pain so that medication can be safely and accurately delivered to the appropriate inflamed nerves, joint spaces and/or the spinal canal. CT creates faster, more accurate imaging with less radiation exposure than traditional CT or x-ray-based fluoroscopy.
Depending on the number of injection sites required to provide relief, this procedure may take from fifteen minutes to one or two hours.
RAO’s CT is offered at two convenient locations:
Medical Imaging Center at Windsor Oaks and
TimberRidge Imaging Center.
For scheduling, please call RAO at 352-671-4300.