Question: What is the difference between an MRI scan and CT scan please?

Ella Mercer answered on 14 Jun 2018:

Both scanners can be used to look inside of our body, however, they are used for quite different things! A CT scan can be used to look at bone injuries, to have a look at the lungs and to detect cancers. They’re very quick (they only take about 5 minutes) which means you’ll often find them in A&E departments in the hospital. However, they use a type of radiation which means we can’t keep going inside them to be scanned and they might hurt our cells. An MRI scanner doesn’t release any radiation which means you can have lots of MRI scans and it’s completely safe. You’ll have an MRI to look at your brain or your spinal cord because they’re better at looking at soft and squishy parts of our body. They take around 30 minutes though and you have to lie very still the whole time! Have you ever had a scan? I did an experiment when I was at university where I had an MRI … I got to keep the picture of my brain!