CT imaging is performed with rotating X-Ray equipment, coupled with a computer. To perform a CT scan, the patient lies still on a table and the X-Rays are taken as slices of the body, once the scan has been completed, the slices can be reassembled digitally and the result is a three dimensional image of the organs and tissues. The results of a CT scan are considerably more comprehensive than other forms of imaging as the results include detail of soft tissue such as muscle mass as well as bone, blood vessels and organs.
Other methods of imaging have their specific purposes but they do not provide images of everything that a CT scan does. X-Rays only show bone, MRIs show sift tissue and blood vessels but not the bones.
There always has been concern that imaging subjects the patient to doses of radiation that may be harmful. There are some reasons to believe that this is true, but only for those people that are subjected to multiple scans, a single scan is not problematic. However, to reduce the risk even further, low dose CT in Riverhead NY is now being conducted.
First generation CT scanners took a single image every second for example; to complete the test took considerable time in the machine. Modern machines have multiple image detectors allowing for a reduction of time to complete the test with no reduction in the image quality. If a low dose CT in Riverhead NY is now being conducted with a four detector scanner, the time in the machine is only 25 percent of what it was in early machines.
The new machines not only have the advantage or reducing the amount of radiation the patient is subjected to, it means the test can be completed faster, which is important. Lying completely still for an extended period of time can be difficult and stressful, it is also difficult to hold ones breath for long periods of time when the machine is gathering chest images. The new machines can also be tailored by the technician to give exactly the dose of radiation required for perfect images, no more.
A combination of lower radiation and less time makes a low dose CT in Riverhead NY the better choice.
If your physician orders you to have a low dose CT in Riverhead NY then feel free to visit North Fork Radiology to conduct the test with their modern equipment.