CT scans are a type of medical image that are commonly used to assess the structure and anatomy of soft tissue. This is in stark contrast to X-rays, which are much better at visualizing harder tissues such as bones. CT scans are commonly performed if the chest has been injured, if a tumor is suspected, or to look for bleeding or the accumulation of other fluids.
Instructions
1. Determine the plane of the scan. CT scans are either viewed as a cross-section (from the perspective of a person standing up, this would be horizontally), saggitally (profile from top to bottom) or coronally (top to bottom but from the front). Most chest CT scans are done as a cross-section, and this will be noted at the top of the image.
2. Identify major structures. In general, with a chest CT scan you will first look for the lungs and the heart as well as large blood vessels (the aortic artery or the vena cava veins).
3. Identify the location of the scan. You can usually do this by looking at the heart. Images that are done higher up will include the atria, which are chambers with thinner walls. The ventricles, which are lower, will have thicker walls. Also look for the appearance of blood vessels to help orient where you are in the chest.
4. Look for abnormalities. An anatomy textbook may be useful here. CT scans are best for identifying the margins of different tissues, so you will want to look for bulges in the lungs or heart as well as any irregularities in the blood vessels.
5. Look at multiple images. Most CT scans involve taking multiple images, so if you see something that looks like an abnormality, look to see if it is visible on other scans to make sure that it is not just an error on the scan.
Tags: blood vessels, heart well, lungs heart, lungs heart well, multiple images
