Pediatric CT Scan

You will be having a CT or Computerized Tomography Scan. A CT scanner takes many fancy x-rays or pictures of your body and a computer puts them together. It is a very big machine that has two parts. One part is a long, narrow bed that moves. The bed is a little hard because the mattress is very thin.

The second part is like a big donut that goes around the bed and makes a tunnel. The tunnel part is where the xray pictures of your body are taken. You will lie on the narrow bed and the bed will move towards the tunnel until your head, or your belly-whatever needs to be checked is in the tunnel.

Since these are special pictures, sometimes they look better with something called contrast in your blood or stomach. There are two ways to give you contrast. Depending on what part of your body needs a picture, you will either 1. Drink some pink liquid that tastes like "kool-Aid" or 2. Get an IV of contrast. Now, we will not kid you, #2 will mean that a nurse will have to put a tube called a catheter in your vein. They will need to use a needle that might sting. But that is the only hard part!

Once you are on the bed, it is very important that you do not move and hold still. You will hear a voice giving you directions like when to hold your breath (like you do under water), and when to breathe. The whole procedure will take around 15 minutes. The CT machine is connected to a computer in the next room. That is where the black and white pictures of your insides will be.

Mom or Dad can go in with you for the pictures. If you have any questions, or are scared, please ask the technologist, they are your friend. You can also call Fletcher Allen Radiology at (802) 847-3593.