RE: FACIAL CT WITH OR WITHOUT CONTRAST

[Intrigued1]

Hello,

Will a facial ct with contrast decrease the ability to see certain structures while improving the ability to see others? In other words, by improving the visibility of the blood vessels and muscles, will the contrast make it more difficult to visualize the bones of the face by "blocking the view" of the bones by bringing out the blood vessels and muscles? Is it possible to "remove" the blood vessels and muscles from the 3D reconstruction view and "add" them back when viewing such a scan? Is there any benefit in doing a facial CT scan both with and without contrast, or is it better to do it with OR without contrast? Thank you.

[Sumer K Sethi, MD]

Facial CT scan with contrast improves the appearance of blood vessels,, and normal and abnormal tissue by taking up the intravenously administered contrast. But the other way is not correct it doesnt block the bones or anything like that. Once you have done the basic scanning you can do a 3D reconstruction for the bone but that doesnt mean that you loose data for the rest of the areas you can see anything you like.

[Intrigued1]

Dr. Sethi,

Thank you for the informative reply. As a follow-up I'd like to ask the following: if contrast improves the appearance of blood vessels and other soft tissue such as the facial muscles, would this not decrease the visibility of the facial bones, or are you able to "remove" these soft tissues from the CT when viewing it and then "add" them back to view the CT with the soft tissues in place? Does a contrast-enhanced CT provide a better or worse view of the facial bones than a non-enhanced CT? Thanks again.