May 7, 2024 · CT scans are painless. With newer machines, scans take only a few minutes. The whole process most often takes about 30 minutes. During the procedure. A CT scanner is shaped like a large doughnut standing on its side. You lie on a narrow table with a motor that slides through the center of the scanner into a tunnel.

Feb 28, 2025 · These include the photon-counting CT scanner and a compact 3-tesla MRI system for imaging the brain. Nearly 50 years ago, Mayo Clinic installed the first commercial CT scanner and became the first medical institution outside of London — where CT was invented — to offer CT exams to patients. Today, Mayo Clinic's Department of Radiology ...

Jul 22, 2023 · The scan is done using a computerized tomography (CT) scanner. You lie on your back on a movable table. The table slides into a large machine shaped like a tube. Your head is outside the scanner the whole time. The exam room will likely be cool. You may be given medicine to slow your heartbeat. This helps create clearer images.

Learn more about services at Mayo Clinic. A CT scan can show nearly all parts of the body. Healthcare professionals use it to diagnose disease or injury and to plan medical, surgical or radiation treatment.

The PET-CT or PET-MRI scanner is a large machine that looks a little like a giant doughnut standing upright, similar to CT or MRI scanners. From start to finish, the procedure takes about two hours to complete and typically does not require an overnight hospital stay. When you arrive for your scan, you may be asked to: Change into a hospital gown.

Jan 5, 2024 · Overview. A SPECT scan is a type of imaging test that uses a radioactive substance and a special camera to create 3D pictures.

Jun 11, 2024 · A CT coronary angiogram usually is done in the radiology department of a hospital or an outpatient imaging facility. Before the procedure. Before a CT coronary angiogram, a healthcare professional may give you medicine called a beta blocker. This slows your heart rate to help the CT scanner make clearer images.

CT scans allow doctors to see cross-sectional images (slices) of your body. This slice shows heart and lung tissue.

Apr 22, 2023 · The CT Clinical Innovation Center has worked for nearly a decade to help develop clinical applications for photon-counting CT technology. Mayo Clinic installed the world's first of these scanners in 2014 and began using the third-generation version clinically in 2021. "It's a fundamental shift in CT imaging," Dr. Baffour says.

Before the exam begins, the table moves quickly through the scanner to determine the correct starting position for your scans. For the actual CT urogram, the table moves slowly through the machine while the images are taken. If needed, the machine may make several passes.