I SCANNED AN EIGHT YEAR OLD HEAD TONIGHT THAT HAD AN ARACHNOID CYST. THE PATIENT PRESENTED WITH ALTERED MENTAL STATUS FROM A POSSIBLE BENEDRYL OVERDOSE SO THE CYST WAS A SECONDARY FINDING. I THOUGHT IS WAS INTERESTING. I DON'T REMEMBER SEEING ONE BEFORE.

I LEARNED A NEW TRICK LAST WEEK. ONE OF THE OTHER CT TECHS AT MY HOSPITAL LEARNED FROM ANOTHER FACILITY THAT ORAL PREP CAN BE MIXED WITH IV CONTRAST INSTEAD OF GASTROGRAFIN. THE ADVANTAGE IS THAT THE PATIENT DOESN'T EXPERIENCE DIARRHEA. THE BOWEL LOOKS THE SAME WITH EITHER CONTRAST. I LEARNED SOMETHING NEW

WE HAD AN INTERESTING NIGHT LAST WEEK. WE SCANNED THREE PATIENTS IN A ROW FROM THE ER THAT WERE ALL POSITIVE FOR APPENDICITIS. ALL THREE LOOKED DIFFERENT ON THE SCAN. ONE HAD AN APPENDICOLITH. ONE HAD A HUGE SWOLLEN APPENDIX, AND ONE HAD A LOT OF STRANDING IN THE PELVIS FROM INFLAMMATION.

THE HOSPITAL WHERE I WORK FULL TIME IS GETTING TWO NEW SCANNERS. WE CURRENTLY HAVE A SIEMENS 16 AND A SIEMENS SINGLE SLICE FOR BIOPSIES AND DRAINS. WE ARE GETTING A PHILLIPS 128 AND A PHILLIPS 16. IT IS GOING TO BE EXCITING WORKING ON A NEW SCANNER, ESPECIALLY ONE THAT FAST. CONSTRUCTION SHOULD BE COMPLETED THIS FALL. WE WILL BE DOWN TO ONE SCANNER FOR ABOUT SIX MONTHS. THIS WILL BE A HARDSHIP FOR THE TECHS ON DAYS, BUT WORTH IT IN THE LONG RUN.

I STARTED A NEW PRN JOB A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO. I'M WORKING AT ANOTHER HOSPITAL IN THE AREA. THEY HAVE A PHILLIPS 64 SLICE SCANNER. IT HAS BEEN GOOD EXPERIENCE FOR ME TO WORK ON ANOTHER SCANNER AFTER ONLY USING THE SIEMENS 16 SLICE FOR THE PAST SEVEN PLUS YEARS. ALSO, I'M LEARNING TO PROTOCOLS, SO IT HAS BEEN A GREAT OVERALL EXPERIENCE AND I'M LOOKING FORWARD TO LEARNING MORE THERE THE LONGER I WORK.

LAST WEEK I GOT TO DO A STUDY I HADN'T DONE BEFORE. IT WAS A CTA CHEST/ABDOMEN/PELVIS WITH LONG LEG RUNOFFS. I'VE BEEN ABLE TO DO QUITE A FEW CTA ABDOMEN/PELVIS EXAMS, BUT NEVER WITH RUNOFFS. I WAS BY MYSELF SO I READ THROUGH THE RUNOFF PROCEDURE IN THE PROTOCOL BOOK AND JUST FOLLOWED IT STEP BY STEP. I DID REGULAR CORONAL AND SAGITTAL RECONS AND SOME THIN MIPS. THE ONLY THING I HAD TROUBLE WITH WAS DOING THE DIGITAL SUBTRACTION. BUT I DIDN'T HEAR ANY COMPLAINTS ABOUT IT THE NEXT DAY SO IT MUST HAVE BEEN OKAY.

I GOT TO DO SOMETHING NEW LAST WEEK. I DID AN UPPER EXTREMITY CTA. I'D NEVER DONE ONE BEFORE. I JUST READ THROUGH THE PROTOCOL BOOK AND WAS ABLE TO GET THROUGH THE EXAM. I MADE CORONALS, SAGITTALS, AND RADIAL RANGES IMAGES. I WASN'T ABLE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE THE SUBTRACTION IMAGES THOUGH, THE DAY TECH HAD TO DO THOSE FOR ME. IT WAS EXCITING TO DO SOMETHING NEW.