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A CT scan can be performed either in a hospital or in an outpatient facility. The scans are painless, and the entire procedure takes under 30 minutes in most cases. During the scan, the steps will be as follows:

• You may first be asked to remove your clothing and wear a medical gown, as well as remove any items with metal on them like jewelry or eyeglasses. In some cases, you may need to be given a contrast material through injection, enema or orally to highlight certain areas of the body.
• You lie on a narrow, motorized table that slides you through the opening in the scanner’s tunnel (the scanner is shaped like a donut standing on its side). Straps and pillows might be used to help you stay in position, or a head cradle might be used to hold your head still.
• As you’re moved into the scanner, detectors and the X-ray tube rotate around you. Each rotation creates images of thin slices of the part of your body being scanned. You might be able to hear buzzing, clicking and whirring sounds.
• You can communicate with a technologist in a separate room via intercom, and this technologist can also see you. They may ask you to hold your breath at certain points.

There is no down time after a CT scan—you can return to normal activity right away. You might receive special instructions if you received a contrast material, and you may be asked to wait a few minutes before leaving to ensure that you feel okay. You’ll be told to drink lots of fluids to help the kidneys remove contrast materials.