What will an ultrasound show that a CT scan will not?

Question

I went to see a gastroenterologist who suspected I had an ulcer. He performed an endoscopy and found nothing. He's now recommending an abdominal ultrasound because his next guess is that my problems stem from my gallbladder. I've already had a CT scan which showed nothing. So what is the ultrasound going to show that the CT scan didn't?

Answer 1

The ultra sound may show gull-stones present. However, a CT scan is usually used to show pain causing ailments as well such as:
abscesses in the abdomen
inflamed colon
cancers of the colon, liver, pancreas and kidneys
pancreatitis
lymphoma
staging for cancer
diverticulitis
appendicitis

The only thing I can think is that your doctor is looking for gull-stones and believes the ultrasound will show them better than a CT scan.

Hope this helps. :-)

Answer 2

Thyroid cancer in a 26 year old is not very common. Over an 8 month period of follow-up, this should have progressed if it were a malignancy. From the web site listed below, "99% of thyroid nodules are not cancer." Small residual non-tender lymph nodes in the 1 cm range are commonly found in the upper cervical chain behind an ear or in the supraclavicular space. CT scans often will not pick up small residual nodes in the 1 cm range in these areas. (I have to guess at the size since you did not tell us how large the lymph nodes are. If they were 2 cm or more, your doctors would probably be ordering a biopsy.) If your thyroid studies - especially the TSH - are all normal, the tiredness should not be related to hypothyroidism. There are MANY problems that can cause general fatigue other than hypothyroidism. A thyroid malignancy this small would not be large enough to cause general fatigue. This is what makes internal medicine so challenging - trying to sort through all the possible problems and find the one that explains your situation - - and hopefully allows for a positive therapeutic intervention. The key will be follow-up and a lot of careful thinking on your doctor's part. Sometimes the best test is the "test of time."

Answer 3

Cat scan produces a still picture just like your flash camera, whereas the ultrasound is a dynamic or moving picture, very use full to study flow and blockage.

Answer 4

gallstones. Usually a ct will not show them.