Does anyone know how long a CAT SCAN takes?

My mother was taken in for a cat scan 3 hours ago, I know NOTHING about them, I'm curious as to how long they take, a friend told me 6 hours, is this true?

WELL ITS RARE THAT ITS TAKING SO LONG UNLESS THEY'RE REALLY GETTING INTO SOMETHING BUT ITS REALLY RARE...

It depends on what they are looking for, they can take as little as 15-30 minutes or considerably longer. I have never heard one taking 6 hours. Have you asked a nurse what's going on?

they say from 2 to 6 hours - that's what the doctors said to a friend of mine
someone I know did one recently and it took 4 hours
it all depends on what they have to look at and if the medicine was administered correctly - you know, they have to take something before the scan itself
the results take from 1 to 4 days, at least that's how long it takes in France :)

PS it does take 6 hours for some people - depending on what they are looking for and as I said, the effect of the medicine. if it takes longer, they are doing a total scan - whole body

they don't take that long... she must be in a waiting area or something. Once the actual scan starts, it shouldn't take longer than about 15-20 minutes, tops.... probably much shorter than that

maybe longer if they are looking for something specific

It sure doesn't take 6 hrs. so don't even think that. It depends on what they are scanning. I get chest, abdomen and pelvis done every 3 months and it takes under 20 minutes including getting the dye put into my vein. Hope this helps you.

The scan usually takes 20-30 minutes from start to finish HOWEVER...to get the radiologist's interpretation of the scan can take hours and hours depending on how backed up the radiologist is and what type of scan was done.

It took me minutes. I suppose it could be longer depending on how large the area is, but I can't see 6 hours at all.

Well, there are different kinds of CT depending on what area of the body is being scanned. However, my son has had a full body scan and it took about 20 minutes. He has had cancer for almost three years and has CT almost every 4-6 weeks. It doesn't take very long for the actual CT, but the waiting may take longer. Your friend may be thinking of an MRI or of a PET, both of which can take a couple hours because of preparation time.

If you are fortunate enough to find a medical institution that uses the newer GE Discovery 2000 scanners, it can do a mid and upper body and brain CT scan (with contrast) in 15 minutes. Note that the tracer iodine injection takes a few minutes to distrubute into your system before they can start the scan.

I got one at the Scripps Early Detection Center in La Jolla, California. Quickest CT scan I ever had. That place has first class treatment with doctors and technical staff that greet you in person in the waiting room, mood music in the injection rooms, skylights and plushness everywhere.

One day, I asked the front desk clerk if I could get a pass to the driving range at the Torry Pines Golf Course since I had 3 hours between appointments. She said she would look into that and let me know. I was only joking. I wanted to see if I could see if there was anything beyond the limits of customer service in that facility.

If you need a good scan to detect cancer or stage your disease for spreading, dont go somewhere that has old equipment. Make sure the equipment is new, all digital, with experienced staff running the equipment.