Here Is How To Get A Private CT Scan In Calgary And How Much It Costs

Patient getting a Private CT scan in Calgary

All residents of Alberta with a valid Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP) card are eligible to have CT scans requested by their doctor done in one of the government public funded health facilities.

The wait time for routine CT scan in Calgary is 6 to 12 months.

If you have a serious medical condition, the wait time comes down to 2 to 12 weeks, if your doctor phones in and mark your requisition as urgent.

Even with an urgent wait time of a few weeks, there are a number of situations when you would want your CT scan to be done within days.

Unless you are seen in the ER or as an in-patient and a CT scan is requested as urgent there, it is very unlikely that you would be able to have one done immediately. At least not within days.

Thankfully, there are a few places in Calgary that offers private CT scanning. Here is how you can get a private CT scan in Calgary.

Before we go into the how, let us look at what exactly is a CT scan, conditions that would require you to seek a private CT, the types of CT scans that are available in Calgary and how much they cost and the risks of doing CT scans.

What Is A CT Scan?

A CT (short for Computed Tomography) scan is simply a detailed form of X-ray, where body parts are represented in 2D grayscale images and these are then reformatted into 3D images by means of computers.

Unlike an X-ray that “sees” mainly bones, CT scans can see both bones and soft tissues, like blood vessels, nerves, brain tissue, muscles etc.

CT scans used to be high voltage and release about 400 times the radiation of a regular chest x-ray. How most CT scans are 3rd generation scans with low-voltage slip rings with lesser amount of radiation.

Common Conditions That Require Urgent CT Scan

CT scan requests are not made lightly because of the high amount of radiation they emit as well as their cost.

If your doctor has requested a CT scan, he or she must be looking for confirmation or exclusion of a serious medical condition.

The common reasons CT scans are requested as urgent include the following:

• Suspected stroke
• Cancer
• Trauma
• Life-threatening infections
• Staging of tumors
• Detailed visualization of a fracture before surgery

You may also seek to have an urgent private CT scan done because you:

• Are eager to find out what you have or do not rather than waiting for weeks and months or up to a year
• Do not have an Alberta Health Services insurance coverage and have to pay out of pocket
• Are involved in a medico-legal situation and your lawyer or insurance company or even WCB is requesting for an urgent CT scan
• For pre-employment re-assessment to exclude a suspected condition.

Types of CT scans Available In Calgary

Brain CT scan in progress.

Once upon a time, people used to request total body CT scan that takes several hundreds of slices of the whole body to “check through” to see if there is any problem in the different parts of the body.

It became obvious that it did not only take a radiologist days to be able to safely read through and report a total body CT scan, it exposes the patient to a large amount of radiations.

Now in Calgary, the following are the available CT scans you can request by body parts.

They include:

• CT of the head, brain and sinuses
• CT of the neck (cervical spine) and shoulders if needed
• CT of the thoracic spine
• CT of the chest (lungs and thymus, pleura, ribs, chest muscles and skin)
• CT scan of upper limb or limbs
• CT of the abdomen
• CT of the pelvis
• CT of hips and pelvis
• CT of the legs, ankles and feet

Many of these CT can be combined like CT chest, abdomen and pelvis or CT head and neck, etc.

How Much Does A Private CT Scan Cost In Calgary?

A private CT scan in Calgary costs anything from $200 to $1500 CAD, depending on body part being investigated, if contrast (dye injection) is required, and if more than one body parts or regions are being scanned.

The top three places where you can get a private CT scan in Calgary are the:

• EFW Radiology at their Seton Clinic location
• Canada Diagnostic Centre locations and the 
• Mayfair Diagnostic centre. 

Below is a table showing how much each of these private CT scan providers in Calgary charges for the different body parts.

* EFW prices are introductory as at of February 18th, 2020. All providers prices are subject to change. For up to date price, call find out. 

How To Get A Private CT Scan In Calgary Requested

Wondering how to get a private CT scan in Calgary? A virtual online doctor or your own doctor can help. Contact us.

You need a doctor to assess your requirement for a CT scan and then get one prescribed or fill out a requisition form for you to be able to have such a scan. 

You can discuss with your family family physician to request a private CT scan for you or even your specialist if you are seeing a specialist for related issue. 

Another option is to seek telemedicine consult and speak with a virtual online doctor who can assess you and put in a requisition for you to have a private CT scan for a fee, because telemedicine consultations are not covered by the provincial Alberta Health Services Insurance Plan. The whole process is very simple and straightforward. 

If you want such help, feel free to contact us today. 

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