Ct scan

[Shityshitybangbang]

Hi all. Just a quick question. Does anyone know if a ct scan on the chest, also scans the liver or any part of the liver at the same time? Or would I need an abdominal scan to show anything up in liver? Not sure thank you x

Radiographer here. The chest scan would likely show the top of the liver, and if a radiologist sees anything abnormal there they will coment on it, however it's not targeted to get good and whole images of the liver. Abdomen scans would show the liver, and specific liver scans too, with contrast to highlight the blood vessels, at the right time interval. Wouldn't need to scan down to the bottom of the pelvis to see the liver though. Scans are often spilt into chest (to bottom of diaphragm) abdomen (to bottom of liver) and pelvis (to bottom). Often all three.

Chest+liver is a fairly common scan.

Thank you for your reply’s. I had colon cancer in august, all removed and no spread. Also had my gallbladder out two weeks before this.
They did find a mass in my Medistinum area, just by chance when they were doing a chest ct scan after my operation in august. Nothing to do with the colon cancer. Have regular ct scans for my chest every three months. They wanted to scan every 6 months, but I asked for three.
No change in mass since it was diagnosed. So been 7 months without change. Getting it out soon, last ct scan two weeks ago.

I just keep googling and keep reading, Colon cancer spread to liver.
I have no pain, sometimes fluttering near my gallbladder scar. I know this can be down to digestion and wind. But I’m paranoid.
I have my yearly ct scan on my colon in July.

Aw, yes sounds very stressful, but it's a risk/benefit with the radiation, deciding how frequently the scans are needed. If you have too many radiation scans it does risk causing further cancers later on in life. But they have developed scanner to have lower radiation than before. Your three monthly chest ones are likely lower, But the full body ones can be a lot. Not long until July.

Thank you. I never even thought about the radiation issues till I had my last ct scan two weeks ago. The doctor explained because I’m getting my whole body scanned in the end of July, it would be too much radiation to carry on with my chest scan. But because I’m getting the operation soon, she agreed to give me the chest scan. Then in July do below the chest.

@Bramblecrumble22 just wondering if you can offer some advice as I had to have a recent CT scan and I’m worried about the radiation. It was a chest abdomen pelvis and I’m concerned about the risk of causing a future cancer? Thanks

A one off isn't too bad...the information from the scan will be far more beneficial than the risk of radiation. We have radiation all around us that could cause cancer in the future, from,food, rocks, the sun, long haul flight. This is all called background radiation and our bodies are adapted to, most of the time get rid of cells damaged by radiation before they turn into cancers. I think, the scan you had is equivalent to a years worth of natural background radiation. So you wouldn't want one every year, but one is unlikely to cause cancer. I dont know your age, They are also less likely to cause issues the older you are, not just because you have less long lo live, busy because well you're developing you are more suseptable to cell damage. Hope that helps, it's not a simple answer and for me anyway, just saying don't worry doesn't help.