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Cranial CT scan - Risks

Alternative Names

Brain CT; Head CT; CT scan - skull; CT scan - head; CT scan - orbits; CT scan - sinuses

What the risks are:

Iodine is the usual contrast dye. Some patients are allergic to iodine and may experience a reaction that may include hives, itching, nausea, breathing difficulty, or other symptoms.

As with any x-ray examination, radiation is potentially harmful. Consult your health care provider about the risks if multiple CT scans are needed over a period of time.

Special considerations:

A CT scan can decrease or eliminate the need for invasive procedures to diagnose problems in the skull. This is one of the safest means of studying the head and neck.

Alternative tests that may be performed in place of Cranial CT scan include:

MRI of the head
Positron emission tomography (PET) scan of the head
Skull x-ray

Reviewed last on: 12/22/2008
David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine; and Daniel B. Hoch, PhD, MD, Assistant Professor of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.

References

Shaw AS, Dixon AK. Multidetector computed tomography. In: Grainger RC, Allison D, Adam, Dixon AK, eds. Diagnostic Radiology: A Textbook of Medical Imaging. 5th ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:chap 4.

Saunders D, Jäger HR, Murray AD, Stevens JM. Skull and brain: methods of examination and anatomy. In: Grainger RC, Allison D, Adam, Dixon AK, eds. Diagnostic Radiology: A Textbook of Medical Imaging. 5th ed. New York, NY: Churchill Livingstone; 2008:chap 55.

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