Brain CT Essentials
Diagnose tricky brain pathologies with the use of brain CT imaging. Learn to identify them quickly and easily with this course.
8 CME credits
Abnormalities on computed tomography (CT) of the brain can be quite subtle, but half the battle is knowing what you’re looking for and where to find it. This guide will help you recognize common abnormalities on brain CT and how to identify when normal structures are absent. From traumatic brain injuries and strokes to hemorrhages, tumors, and seizures, you’ll gain the skills you need to avoid common pitfalls and maximize your ability to recognize subtle disease on brain CT.
To competently read a computed tomography (CT) brain scan, you need to recognize abnormalities that are additions (e.g., hemorrhage and masses), as well as the absence of normal structures. This is because, in many patients, the loss of normal anatomy is the only manifestation of significant disease evident on brain CT. In the articles of this chapter, we review how to maximize your ability to recognize subtle disease by identifying key normal structures on every scan, and how to optimize the appearance of CT images on a computer monitor.