CT Angiography (Computed Tomography Angiography) is a diagnostic imaging modality that helps your doctor to visualise the internal structures especially the blood vessels and tissues of different body parts. The scan usually involves using a special dye known as the contrast agent or contrast dye. The contrast dye is used in the scan to help produce more detailed images of the internals. The contrast dyes are mostly iodine-based. Recently non-iodine-based contrast mediums are being used which are less prone to cause allergic reactions than the iodine-based contrast mediums.
The Scan has Different Names
- CTA
- CT Angiography
- Computed tomography Angiography
Some other scans can also be used alongside with this test in case these tests do not yield enough information such as the PET-CT scan, X-rays, MRI scan, Ultrasound scans etc.
The different uses of the computed tomography angiography scan lies in its property of helping diagnose medical conditions including
- It helps to find out the enlarged blood vessel that can cause rupture of the vessel, the enlarged blood vessel is known as an aneurysm.
- It can help find out the narrowed arteries known as atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of the blood vessels due to plaque accumulation of fatty material accumulation
- It can help diagnose various abnormalities in the body parts including the brain.
- The damage to the blood vessels or injury to the blood vessels can also be visualised using the scan.
- A travelling blood clot that might have logged into a body part can be detected using the scan.
- It can help examine the cancer or tumour for its stage, size, and complexity.
For getting the contrast-based CT angiography scan, one is guided to not eat anything before the exam, you are suggested to fast for at least 3-4 hours before the test.
The test can pose certain risks due to the use of contrast medium and due to the use of ionising radiations for the scan as well. Although the risks that these two factors pose remain low and rare, there are still some cases where the two cases have reportedly caused some side effects. The use of ionising radiation stays as the basic principle on which the scan is operated. The ionising radiation holds the property of causing damage to the internal tissues, all the diagnostic centres near you are subjected to follow the safety guidelines recommended by the government. The safety protocol is named as the ALARA principle which is described as “As Low As Reasonably Possible”, the ALARA principle suggests that the diagnostic centre should set their CTA machines on the lowest limits which will minimise the radiation hazards. The use of contrast can cause allergic reactions. The allergic reactions start to manifest at the site of contrast injection, the allergic reaction starts off by showing as itching, redness, swelling, and warmth at the site of injection. Later the symptoms can worsen into life-threatening situations if the initial signs are ignored, this is why it is important to address the symptoms and signs of allergy as soon as you start experiencing them so that they can be managed timely with minimal medications and interventions.