What happens afterwards

You shouldn't experience any after effects from a CT scan and can usually go home soon afterwards. You can eat and drink, go to work and drive as normal.

If a contrast was used, you may be advised to wait in the hospital for up to an hour to make sure you don't have a reaction to it (see below). The contrast is normally completely harmless and will pass out of your body in your urine.

Your scan results won't usually be available immediately. A computer will need to process the information from your scan, which will then be analysed by a radiologist (a specialist in interpreting images of the body).

After analysing the images, the radiologist will write a report and send it to the doctor who referred you for the scan, so they can discuss the results with you. This normally takes a few days or weeks.

Content supplied by the NHS Website

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 21 Dec 2018