Back Pain Diagnosis Methods
CT Scanner: More All-Seeing
The CT (computerized tomography) scan, also known as a CAT (computer assisted tomography) scan, has been widely hailed as a landmark technological breakthrough in diagnosis. When used for back pain diagnosis, this scan can detect just about everything a practitioner might be looking for – ruptured disc, degenerative bone diseases, tumors, narrowing of the spine and a host of other problems.
CT is vastly more sophisticated and all-seeing than X-ray technology. The patient lies inside the CT scanner, and radiation is beamed from several directions at once to produce a composite image. The computer part of the equipment analyses the numerous views. , combining them into a series of highly detailed pictures. Unlike X-ray images, a CT scan shows soft tissue as well as bone. But like standard X-ray procedures, CT scans involve appreciable levels of radiation exposure.
But not even a CT scan can show every possible view of the back, thereby leaving the way open for oversight and misdiagnosis. And even in cases where a CT scan helps diagnose a ruptured disc, patients about to enter surgery must undergo further test procedures to pinpoint the location of the protruding gel.
Because a CT scanner is costly to own and maintain, the machines tend to be clustered at major medical centers, and appointment time is limited. It’s not unheard of waiting up to eight weeks for a CT scan. It’s also possible that unless your problem was deemed ’serious’ enough, your request to have a CT scan maybe turned down.
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Tags: back pain diagnosis, ct scanner
