Oral contrast or IV contrast for CT scans abdomen, pelvis, lungs?

My CT scans used IV contrast. Once the port for chemotherapy, they used that. Eventually back to normal IV once I was stable and the port was removed.

No shielding of the thyroid - don't know if that is normal procedure or unique to me because they monitor some nodules in my thyroid.

I did find this on the web -
The American Association of Physicists in Medicine and the American College of Radiology no longer supports shielding patients’ reproductive organs and fetuses during imaging studies that use radiation, such as X-rays and CT scans, according to new findings.

I assume that applies to other organs as well.

Thank you for the update. So, no oral contrast? Onc could see colon and
lymph nodes?

Correct: No oral contrast and they could indeed see the colon, lymph nodes and in my case kidney and liver cysts, a bunch of suspicious spots on my lungs, the thyroid nodules, a small hernia and in the some recent one, some spine alignment issues recently confirmed by x-rays/MRI.

More than you really want to know!

BTW - Everything turned out to be benign except for the colon which was previously diagnosed by a colonoscopy and biopsies taken at the time.

I am the same - always IV contrast and no shielding. I can’t count how many scans I’ve had over the last 3 years. I’ve been on quarterly PET-CT surveillance scanning over the last 12 months.

I read that these scans may possibly cause cancer themselves, but that their use outweighs the risks. I wonder if anyone else has heard that?

I have had a CT with oral contrast a few times. It is called a CT enterography. This is almost as thorough as getting a colonoscopy because it shows more of the colon. But the majority of my scans were with IV contrast. I had one without contrast as I developed an allergy to iv contrast and they forgot to pre medicate me.

Yes - I've been told the same.

I'm thinking that over the decades that x-rays/CT scans have been used, the amount of radiation exposure has greatly been reduced.

Example: my dentist still uses shielding when using his x-ray over the chair, but he also has a newer x-ray device that you step up to and it rotates around your mouth - that doesn't require any shielding.