I am blown away, totally!

This was really way cool, to be able to see radiological report of a CT (computed topography) scan of a patient. Thanks to Dr B.C and Sister Z again! Dr B.C was explaining to me patiently how a CT scan was carried out. Then he used a patient's recent and previous CT scan to compare. So as the patient lie down horizontally and the scanner swept through, cross section of the patient was seen. The program, Centricity Web, allows user to scroll down so that one sees the entire length of the scan. Dr B.C pointed out to me where the lung, collar bone, sternum and the liver is. He explained that the black portion was actually air, so one actually sees a big patch of black ina healthy lung. But the patient's tumour cells had spread to the lung, so the scan showed that the right lung had an opaque patch of pleural plug. Then later on, he switched to a lung window, where I can see the blood vessels in the lung clearly.

An interesting and entertaining lesson...one so fascinating that I cannot peel my eyes of the screen.

Sister Z and Dr B.C also explained about the process of testing for Hepatitis B today. It involves screening for surface antigen. So if that is positive, the person will be forever a Hep B carrier. The next step is the screen for the amount of Hep B antibodies. So if the person is a Hep B carrier but has a large amount of antibodies, then the virus responsible for Hep B is considered dormant.

And the last thing I have learnt today.

Primitive neuroectodermal tumor. One of a group of cancers that develop from the same type of early cells, and share certain biochemical and genetic features. Some PNETs develop in the brain and central nervous system (CNS-PNET), and others develop in sites outside of the brain such as the limbs, pelvis, and chest wall (peripheral PNET). Also called primitive neuroectodermal tumor.