There are millions of people around the world who are stressed out.
Some of these people turn to holistic remedies for their stress, such as drinking decaffeinated tea and doing medication.
However, there are people who find other, less healthy ways to deal with stress, and one of those ways is through smoking.
Smoking can cause a myriad of different health problems, so in order to receive the proper treatment, the patient will need to have a preventative scan done.
An example of a preventative scan that is often done on smokers is called a CT angiography.
Using minimal amounts of radiation, this scan produces detailed three dimensional images of the lungs, as well as various other organs in the body.
The CT angiography is also used to detect such maladies as coronary artery disease, as well as the possible presence of clots or aneurysms.
In order to understand the correlation between being a chronic smoker and the eventual need for a CT angiography, it is important to first get a better understanding of how smoking affects the body.
In the old days, smoking was considered quite a popular hobby.
The media portrayed it as something glamorous.
The media gave the impression that young boys would become tough men if they smoked.
Girls who smoked were supposed to be more alluring.
What really happened (and continues to happen) is that many smokers ended up with lung cancer or other diseases from all of the chemicals they inhale.
This is where the CT angiography comes in.
Many people who have never had this preventative scan done before are interested in finding out what the optimal way is for them to prepare.
Usually, there are not any diet restrictions prior to having this scan, but if there are, specific directions will be given to the patient by their doctor.
It is very important that the patient will arrive to the outpatient facility where the scan is taking place wearing metal free clothing.
The patient should also not be wearing any accessories that contain metal.
The main reason that metal should be completely avoided is because it throws off the efficiency of the scanning machine.
Those who do not have any metal free clothing will be given a medical robe to wear.
Next, the patient might be given a contrast material intravenously.
This contrast material is meant to highlight certain blood vessels, which will in turn make it easier for the scanner to focus on a particular area.
This will take about fifteen minutes to have done.
Once the contrast material (if needed) has been given, the next step is to have the patient lie down on an examining table.
The examining table will then be pushed back into the scanning device itself.
One way to think of the scanning device is as a giant circle with a hole in the middle of it for the examining table.
The outer circle rotates around the examining table while the scan is being done.
The scan itself takes less than a minute to complete, after which time the patient can resume regular activities.