CT scan question

[Ctquestion4]

in hospital with suspected appendicitis, been told they will do a CT scan tomorrow to decide whether or not to do surgery but the consultant said the CT scan people sometimes refuse to do scans on young people? Does anyone know is this likely to happen? I stupidly didn’t ask the consultant at the time and now there’s no one free to ask. Also when I googled it it said sometimes CT scans aren’t the most accurate because tiny movements mean it comes up blurry? Or would that only be really big movements? Just don’t want to wait all this time for the scan only for it to be a waste of time. Just wondered if anyone knew anything about this and could help at all. Thanks so much in advance x

I’ve never heard of that. Usually the consultant makes the decision on whether a patient needs one. Not the radiologist. Maybe all Trusts are different 🤷🏼‍♀️

I would've thought that may apply to children who don't understand the importance of keeping still when the scan is done, but NT adults should be able to understand and comply with instructions. Maybe that's more what was meant by 'young people'.

I was refused a CT scan once when the consultant radiologist decided I needed to be scanned as an outpatient rather than an inpatient. (I staged a sit in until I got my scan.) I can't see your scan being refused if you've got suspected appendicitis and are spending the night in hospital.

It’s probably referring to children. I work in radiography and have never heard of this for adults. You do need to stay still but CT scans are very quick, unlike MRI scans

I wonder if it's due to radiation... I recently had to go for an x-ray and am sure there was a poster on the door saying as CT scans are multiple x-rays they sometimes choose not to do them on children/teens. The amount of radiation is very small, but is more important if you're still growing. So maybe it's a benefit v risk thing - they'd still do it if needed, but if there's another option they'd use that for younger people. Maybe?

This is wrong. A scan
/x-ray referral is a request to the radiology department. The radiologist or radiographer justifies the scan and will only undertake it, if the potential benefits of having the scan/xray outweighs the risk of the radiation. This is a legal responsibility and applied nationally

Yes sorry that's entirely wrong above^ the radiologist approves the scans, not the surgeons. @EmilyTjP