CT & MRI I was in the tube for examination

What happens with a CT??

„I was in the tube for examination“- often ignorance between CT and MRI and the high radiation doses

Due to a recent case, the radiation exposure of computed tomography in Germany has become an issue. „Mirror online“ reported on October 13, 2009, an incident at a hospital in Los Angeles. Here, the CT device had been set incorrectly and it came to a radiation exposure, which corresponded to eight times the normal dose. So it is not surprising that 40% of those affected suffered from hair loss and skin changes, because a CT already has 100 to 1000 times the radiation exposure of a normal X-ray examination anyway.

At the beginning of October, the radiologist Christoph Heyer, who works in Bochum University Hospital, pointed out in an interview with the „star“ to the underestimated risk of radiation from CT equipment. Heyer explained that referring physicians know too little about the radiation exposure and his clinic will even publish a study in a few weeks, according to which only 26% of paediatricians the connection between radiation exposure and malignant tumors is known. Meanwhile, according to his statements in Germany, the proportion of radiation exposure by CT devices to be over 50%, but the CT examinations account for only 8%!

Already many times there have been indications from medical doctors that many CT examinations are unnecessary, because of internal organs and their changes also ultrasound or MRI examinations provide satisfactory diagnoses. In suspected fractures or other injuries z. T. also X-ray examinations completely sufficient.

As was clear in the case of the wrong set computer tomograph in Los Angeles, the devices in this country, according to Christoph Heyer, are often wrongly set. But in addition to the education of the professionals, the education of patients is just as important. „I was in the tube“ is a common statement from patients after a CT or MRI scan. It is not clear to many that there is a serious difference between the devices and methods.

CT is X-rays from a rotating tube, MRI (magnetic resonance tomography) or nuclear spin, a magnetic field excited by radio waves from outside. A magnetic field needs molecules that react to this magnetic field, if this is not the case, as in the case of the lung, then another method, such as X-ray or CT, is the method of choice. The MRI generally makes pictures with clearer and stronger contrasts, but is very expensive. Due to the strong magnetic field, it is unsuitable for patients with metal parts in the body or pacemakers. Since for many patients the long duration of examination in the constricted tube is unpleasant, there are occasionally already fully open devices in Germany (so-called Upright ™ MRI), with which you can take pictures lying down, sitting and standing on an open device. The images with MRI devices are more expensive than CT examinations, which is probably also a reason that this investigation is used restrained. (Sb)