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Leg CT Scan (with contrast, both legs)

This is a CT scan of the leg with an iodine-based dye given through a vein, billed for both legs. Unlike a plain x-ray, which is essentially a bone study, this one is usually ordered for what surrounds the bone — a deep collection of pus, a mass, an unexplained swelling — because the dye makes blood vessels and the rim of an inflamed area stand out from normal tissue.

This explanation has not been reviewed by a person yet.

What it is

A CT scanner takes x-ray measurements from all the way around the leg and reconstructs them into cross-sections, so the leg can be looked at slice by slice instead of flattened into one shadow. That alone separates bone, muscle, fat, and vessels far better than a plain film. The contrast is what this particular code adds: an iodine-based dye injected into a vein, which travels in the blood and brightens anything with a good blood supply. A walled-off pocket of infection lights up around its edge and stays dark in the middle. A tumour takes up dye differently from the muscle around it. Vessels become visible in their own right. Scanning both legs also gives the reader the other side as a reference, which is useful when the abnormal finding is a subtle difference in size or density rather than an obvious lump.

Why it is done

  • To look for a deep collection of pus or an area of infection in the soft tissue or bone of the leg, and to show its extent before any drainage or surgery
  • To characterise a lump found on examination or on another scan, and to show what structures it sits against
  • To sort out swelling of a whole limb when the cause is not apparent from the outside
  • To assess a complicated fracture or a healing bone in more detail than plain films allow, including after surgical fixation
  • To map the anatomy before an operation, when the surgeon needs to know exactly where vessels and tissue planes run

What to expect

An intravenous line is placed for the contrast, and there are usually questions beforehand about kidney function and about previous reactions to contrast dye; a blood test is sometimes done first. The scan itself is quick — the patient lies still on a table that passes through a ring-shaped scanner, feet first for a leg study. When the dye goes in, a warm flush through the body and a metallic taste are common and pass in moments. The scanning takes minutes; the paperwork, the line, and the waiting take longer. Drinking fluids afterward helps clear the dye. A radiologist reads the reconstructed images and reports them.

Questions worth asking

  • Is this ordered with contrast, without contrast, or both? Those are three different codes at three different prices, and "both" means two passes through the scanner on one visit.
  • Is the contrast material itself billed as a separate line item on top of the scan?
  • If a blood test for kidney function is done before the scan, is that a separate lab charge?
  • Scanning both legs doubles the anatomy covered. Is this billed as one bilateral study or as two scans, and does the order say both sides?
  • Is the radiologist reading the scan part of the hospital's group and in my network, even if the hospital is?

What Leg CT Scan (with contrast, both legs) costs by state

Leg CT Scan (with contrast, both legs) prices at hospitals

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