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Pelvic CT scan (with contrast)

A pelvic CT images the space between the hip bones — bladder, bowel, reproductive organs, lymph nodes and the pelvic bones. The injected dye makes blood vessels and inflamed or abnormal tissue stand out against normal tissue. It is often ordered together with an abdominal CT, which changes how the study is billed.

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What it is

The pelvis packs the bladder, the lower colon and rectum, the reproductive organs, lymph nodes and a dense cluster of vessels into a small bony bowl, and on a plain scan many of those structures are hard to tell apart from one another. Injected iodine dye fixes that. It travels in the bloodstream, so vessels turn bright, and tissue with an unusually rich or leaky blood supply — an inflamed bowel wall, the rim of an abscess, a tumor — looks different from the tissue around it. That contrast between structures is the whole reason the dye is given. Some protocols also have the patient drink a contrast liquid beforehand so the bowel is outlined from the inside as well.

Why it is done

  • To find the source of pelvic pain, including infection, an abscess, or inflamed bowel
  • To look at a mass found on an ultrasound or a physical exam, and to see what it is attached to
  • To stage a known cancer by checking the pelvic organs and lymph nodes
  • To assess injury to the pelvic organs or the pelvic bones after trauma
  • To guide a biopsy or drainage, or to plan surgery or radiation treatment

What to expect

Patients are often asked not to eat for several hours beforehand, and to arrive early if oral contrast has to be drunk over an hour or so. Metal comes off and a gown usually goes on. The scan itself is quick — the table slides through the ring and the images are taken in well under ten minutes of actual scanning. The intravenous dye produces a warm flush and a metallic taste that fade within a minute. Staff ask beforehand about kidney function, about metformin, about previous contrast reactions, and about pregnancy. A radiologist reads the images and reports to the ordering doctor afterward.

Questions worth asking

  • Is the abdomen being scanned in the same session? Abdomen and pelvis together are billed under a single combined code, not as two separate scans, and the totals differ.
  • Is oral contrast part of this order, and is it charged separately from the intravenous dye?
  • Is this being done in a hospital radiology department or a freestanding imaging center? The facility fee is usually the largest single difference between the two.
  • If this is one of a series of follow-up scans for a known condition, can the interval be discussed — each scan is a fresh charge against the deductible.

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Pelvic CT scan (with contrast) prices at hospitals

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