Are CT Scans still effective without dye or contrast?

Asked by Reggz (149

) April 24th, 2012

Will a CT without contrast/dye still pick up tumors? A tumor was incidentally found on my MRI so I’m having further scans, but they did not use contrast with my CT scan… and they usually always do. I’m afraid that the CT will not pick up on the tumor(s) and I really want this taken care of, as I am a cancer survivor and I have most of the risk factors that this is cancer.

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3 Answers

I don’t know much on the topic, but I think the dye shows blood vessels and blood flow most of all. If you had contract with your MRI, which would be an MRA I believe, then they likely already saw that, and the CT will show different things not picked up by the MRI/MRA. CT contrast is very taxing on the kidneys, so if you don’t need it, better not to get it, especially if you are older.

Sorry to hear about the tumour, I hope everything will be ok.

JLeslie (65790

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I think it will depend on the quality of the CT machine (resolution, focus, computational oooph) and the skill of your physician who reads the scan. There are wide ranges of quality of both,
And @JLeslie is right, you want to avoid those contrasty chemicals if you can.

dabbler (18896

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