CT scans are valuable diagnostic methods, but not all disease can be detected by CT scans. There are some cancers, such as prostate and uterine cancer, that may be difficult to see with CT, and other soft tissue details are better evaluated with MRI. Some conditions such as IBS, nerve damage and early-stage cancers may not be visible on CT scans as well.
Diseases and Conditions CT Scans Are Not Reliable to Detect
Many Soft Tissue and Organ Diseases
CT scans have a reputation for detecting certain types of cancers, however, uterine and prostate cancers are quite challenging. The limitation of soft tissue contrast on CT makes tumor versus normal tissue differentiation difficult.
Advanced stage liver cancers may be detected on CT, though certain liver cancers, even more subtle ones, can be easily missed especially if they are small or have the same density as the surrounding liver tissue.
Soft tissue injuries (think ligament or tendon injuries) and muscle diseases, are poorly visualized by CT. MRI provides much better visualization of soft tissues. Thus, MRI is the preferred modality for these conditions.
Early or small tumors
Tumors in an early or small stage of cancer in different organs could be missed, as long as they do not alter the architecture or density of the surrounding tissues. Micro- tumors in the brain or micrometastases could be missed until it is considerably larger.
Microscopically diseased CT’s (computed tomography) cannot find disease at the cellular or molecular level, (for example, an early form of lymphoma or leukemia), unless the disease has progressed enough to result in observable changes in anatomy.
Functional and metabolic diseases
CT shows anatomical systems, however CT cannot demonstrate function directly. For example, CT can miss diseases that only affect functioning, or the activity of the organ without a visible change in anatomy (for example, no lesions in epilepsy, early multiple sclerosis, or some liver diseases that are causing metabolic changes in function).
Many metabolic or functional diseases of the brain, heart, or organ systems will need other methodologies like PET (positron emission tomography) or functional MRI (magnetic resonance imaging).
History of Inflammation and Autoimmune Disease
About 150 years ago, research on multiple sclerosis put inflammation’s reputation at risk. Inflammation had for a long time been an important part of the body’s armamentarium against infection, and a healing device for damaged tissue (5). But following the report of a French neurologist that showed inflammation in areas of multiple sclerosis lesions in the central nervous system, the evidence suggested that inflammation might cause harm.
They proved the point by showing that antibodies that blocked one type of cytokine – TNF alpha – inhibited the other cytokines’ expression in the lab cultures of functional joint tissues and that patients reported relief from symptoms during clinical trials almost immediately.
What Are The Symptoms Of Autoimmune Diseases?
The signs and symptoms of an autoimmune disease depend on which part of your body is affected, however many autoimmune diseases will produce some redness, swelling, heat, and pain which is described as inflammation. Other diseases can have the same combination of redness, swelling, heat, and pain.
The signs and symptoms of different autoimmune diseases can be intermittent. A return of the signs and symptoms will be called a flare-up of the disease when they have returned and you may experience some severe symptoms for a brief period of time and then have a remission for some length of time, in which your symptoms decrease or go away for a period of time.
Reasons For These Limitations
CT relies on the differences in tissue density to create images. Therefore, diseases that do not alter the density, shape or size of the tissues cannot be detected.
In general soft tissue contrast is limited compared to MRI, limiting the ability to differentiate between normal or abnormal soft tissue in certain organs.
Functional and molecular changes are not visible to CT since it only demonstrates structure, without showing function or metabolism.
Conclusion
While CT scans are very useful for many diagnostic purposes, they are not useful for diagnosing diseases that have little or no structural change particularly with soft tissues (first stage cancers), functional disorders (most neoplastic and infectious diseases), many inflammatory and infectious diseases, and most psychiatric or blood disorders where either biological or functional disorder exist. Most of these conditions would require other imaging modalities and/or lab tests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What diseases cannot be detected by a CT scan?
CT scans are a fantastic medical imaging method; however, there are limits when it comes to using it for diagnostics. For instance, CT scans are often unsuccessful in detecting tumor-type cancers when the tumors are too small, as in early stage liver cancer or early stage ovarian cancer.
Q. What can be missed in a CT scan?
can miss some findings. Some typical findings that are missed can be smaller or low-grade tumors, certain cancers such as cancers of the uterus, prostate or liver, fractures, particularly in patients with osteoporosis; soft tissue injuries.
Q. What CT scan cannot show?
CT scans might not be effective in spotting a cancer in its beginning stage and they can’t tell the difference between a malignant tumor and a benign tumor.
Q. What CT scan cannot show?
CT scans do not provide adequate information regarding tendons, ligaments, the spinal cord, or intervertebral discs. CT is also limited in imaging some cancers, such as prostate and uterine cancers, and some liver cancers.
Q. Are imaging centers cheaper than hospitals?
Yes, imaging centres don’t involve room and other charges so it can be cheaper than private hospitals. To find the cheapest imaging centres near you contact carebox,
