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Welcome to Radiology info dot org. Your radiologist will analyze your images and write a report for your healthcare provider who will then discuss the results with you.

At most healthcare facilities in the United States, your radiology report will be automatically available in your patient portal after the radiologist reviews your images and completes the report.

So, you may be actually seeing the report before your health care provider.

The report will contain medical terms that you may not understand. Some of the terms, such as “abnormal,” may look frightening, but may not be as serious as you might think.

Many things that we see on imaging tests are very common in patients and will cause you no harm.

Write down your questions that you may have and talk to your ordering provider, or you can ask if you can speak to the radiologist if you have any questions.

A typical radiology report will have various sections. This includes the technique section, the finding section, and the impression.

In this video, I'm going to focus on typical things you may see in the findings section of a CT scan of your abdomen and pelvis. I'm going to do this by scrolling through an actual CAT scan and going over some of the organs and some of the terminology you may see in your report.

A typical CT scan is acquired in an axial orientation. This means that we're cutting your body like this, sort of like a pizza going from head to toe. That's what you're seeing on the screen. Now, a typical CT abdomen and pelvis will also include portions of your lungs. Here you can see the bottom of your lungs on these images.

We are typically looking for any fluid in the lungs, which may be called “pulmonary edema,” if it's in the lungs, or a “pleural effusion,” if it's in the space between your lungs and your chest wall. We're also looking for any “pulmonary nodules.” These are small little growths in your lung, many of which are benign and will cause you no harm.

On these images, you'll see that your heart here and your aorta here, which is the main blood vessel that gives blood supply to your body, are bright. They look white. This is because this scan has “intravenous contrast.” Intravenous contrast is very important for us in radiology, as it allows us to see many, many things much better.

On a typical contrast enhanced scan, the radiologist will have a much easier time picking up subtle findings in your organs compared to a study where you don't get an intravenous contrast.

When describing your liver, you may see a term called “steatosis” or “steatotic liver.” This simply means the radiologist thinks you have some fat deposition inside your liver, and this can sometimes cause lab abnormalities that your doctor may want to discuss with you.

This is your spleen on the left hand side. You'll see here a very small lesion where my arrow is pointing to. That is lower in density compared to the rest of the spleen. This is a very common finding that we often see in the spleen, the liver, or the kidneys. And we call this a “hypoattenuating lesion.”

“Hypoattenuating” just means it's lower in density compared to the rest of the organ. Most commonly, a hypoattenuating lesion will end up being a benign cyst. A “cyst” is simply a small little pocket of fluid which can form inside your organs. They are very, very common and they almost certainly will cause you no harm at all. So don't be frightened if you see the term “cyst” or a small hypoattenuating lesion which likely reflects a cyst.

And behind your adrenal glands, we'll see your kidneys right here. And again, cysts are very common in the kidneys, as well as kidney stones, which may be described in your report. In a typical CT of the abdomen and pelvis we’ll also be able to see your stomach, as well as your small and your large intestines, which you see here.

You may see a term called “diverticulosis” when describing your large intestines. This is simply small little gas filled out pouches that form in the large intestines. You can see them right here. They're usually of no harm, but when they get inflamed, it's called “diverticulitis.” And when that happens, it can cause pain, fever and often needs to be treated with antibiotics.

Your radiologist will also describe any findings in your bones. You may see a term such as “no aggressive osseous lesions” or “no acute osseous abnormality.” This simply means the radiologist has not seen anything of concern in your bones.

You may also see some discussion of arthritis in your spine or your hips in the report. Some radiologists choose to mention this. Others may not.

The most important part of your report is the impression portion. This is where the radiologist is going to take what they saw in your scan and described in your findings section and put the most important things that they want to convey to your ordering provider.

Therefore, the impression portion of your report is the part that you want to make sure you review with your doctor to go over what the radiologist saw on your CAT scan.

For further information, please go to the website Radiology info dot org and thank you for your time.