Just wanted to share a little of the amazing technology that my Cat Scan machine is capable of. Although I cannot disclose any information regarding patient information I would like to state that I DO in fact have permission from this patient to share her images. She was more than happy to let us use them as a learning tool or to display them to let people know the capbilities of our machine.
These images are from a scan I did yesterday. This test is called a Computerized tomography venography scan of the left upper extremity: CTV LUE, for short. Basically what that means is we used the Cat Scan machine to take pictures of someone's veins in their arm with x-ray dye in it. It amazes me how quickly the technology changes in my field. When I started this job 11 years ago, this wasn't even taught on a regular basis. The machines were not capable of scanning quickly enough to catch the dye rush through their veins. In stead, we would inject dye and shoot regular x-rays which are much less helpfull in diagnosing a clot or abnormality in the vein. Just thought these were really cool images, and the radiologist even made an image just for "the deadhead," that would be me :-)
In one image (the side view), you can see this patient has a port a cath. I know Jen is familiar with these. It is a little piece of plastic that is under the skin on the patient's chest. It has a catheter attached to the patients blood vessels so that the vessels can be accessed without having to start an IV on the patient. Port a caths are very common in cancer patients and patients with difficult veins to stick.
You can see the port just below the skin...it is the small golden colored half moon shaped object that shows a syringe outside the skin in front of it.
These images are from a scan I did yesterday. This test is called a Computerized tomography venography scan of the left upper extremity: CTV LUE, for short. Basically what that means is we used the Cat Scan machine to take pictures of someone's veins in their arm with x-ray dye in it. It amazes me how quickly the technology changes in my field. When I started this job 11 years ago, this wasn't even taught on a regular basis. The machines were not capable of scanning quickly enough to catch the dye rush through their veins. In stead, we would inject dye and shoot regular x-rays which are much less helpfull in diagnosing a clot or abnormality in the vein. Just thought these were really cool images, and the radiologist even made an image just for "the deadhead," that would be me :-)
In one image (the side view), you can see this patient has a port a cath. I know Jen is familiar with these. It is a little piece of plastic that is under the skin on the patient's chest. It has a catheter attached to the patients blood vessels so that the vessels can be accessed without having to start an IV on the patient. Port a caths are very common in cancer patients and patients with difficult veins to stick.
You can see the port just below the skin...it is the small golden colored half moon shaped object that shows a syringe outside the skin in front of it.
This is the image made specifically for "the deadhead." The radiologist who read the exam thought I needed one with a phychedlic touch :-)
5 comments:
WooooOOOOOoooooW! Those are some amazing images!!!!
What I can't figure out? Why's she smiling so big! hehehehe
Did you notice she doesn't have any bottom teeth?
Euuuuuuuuu, no I didn't notice!
Jill Anne said...VERY COOL!! She's a BIG woman...right?
Yes, she is a pretty big woman. The really cool thing is that we can do 3D images for the outer layer of soft tissue, so it looks just like her....I just didn't post those for privacy reasons.....If you knew her, you would definitely recognize her on the 3D images.
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