RAD CT Guide

*This code should only be ordered after consultation with the stroke neurologist. The stroke neurologist needs to be present in the CT department in order for a perfusion study to be performed. This is because the neurologist needs to review the images at the time of acquisition in order to facilitate the correct treatment.

 

Potential neurological symptoms in the presence of an Acute Stroke

• Muscular: difficulty walking, paralysis with weak muscles, problems with coordination, or paralysis of one side of the body

• Visual: blurred vision, double vision, sudden visual loss, or temporary loss of vision in one eye

• Speech: difficulty speaking, slurred speech, or speech loss

• Whole body: fatigue, light-headedness, or vertigo

• Limbs: numbness or weakness

• Facial: muscle weakness or numbness

• Also common: balance disorder, difficulty swallowing, headache, inability to understand, mental confusion, pins and needles or reduced sensation of touch

 

These symptoms should be assessed for onset and clinical correlation with a neurologists recommendation.

 

• Assess whether a stroke is haemorrhage or ischaemic in nature to enact the appropriate treatment in a timely manner (e.g. endovascular clot retrieval or intravenous thrombolysis)