If you have COVID-19, your doctor might order a CT scan. Have you ever wondered what doctors look for when they review the results of the CT scan? COVID-19 typically causes fever, shortness of breath, and cough. Doctors usually order blood tests, such as PCR and antigen testing, to diagnose the disease. They also use imaging technology, such as com...

When they thought T'Challa died, the fictitious people of Wakanda mourned the loss of their great leader. When we lost Chadwick Boseman in real life, the entire world grieved. The passing of every superhero brings an opportunity for an awakening and a new understanding of things we used to take for granted; Boseman's passing is no different – the v...

Cancer and other life-threatening health conditions haven't stopped for COVID-19. Now, worrisome modeling should serve as a call to Americans that they need to make that doctor or screening appointment which they postponed earlier in the year. A National Cancer Institute model, examining breast and colorectal cancers, predicts more than 10,000 deat...

Your doctor ordered an MRI study to help diagnose a health problem, but you might worry if MRI is safe. You might be relieved to know that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says that MRIs are very safe – doctors perform millions of MRIs every year, and the FDA receives only about 300 reports of adverse events associated with the test. Here ...

A hiatal hernia is medical conditions in which part of your stomach bulges into your chest cavity. Hiatal hernias are common, especially in older adults. Some people with a hiatal hernia do not know they have one unless their doctor discovers it incidentally while diagnosing or imaging another problem. Other people experience symptoms, such as hear...

Like many diseases, COVID-19 can be unpredictable. For example, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 seemed to affect mainly the elderly in the earliest days of the pandemic, and now it seems to be affecting younger people. Many of these younger patients get sicker now too. Unpredictability can make detecting and treating a disease difficult, thoug...

COVID-19 affects the lungs to make it hard to breath, but it can also affect other areas of the body, such as the heart and kidneys. A number of recent radiology studies using computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) show that infection with coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, can also affect the brain and nervous system. Docto...

Calcium scoring is a medical test that provides important information about a person's risk of developing heart disease or having a stroke. Also known as coronary artery calcium scoring, calcium scoring measures the amount of calcium in the walls of the heart's arteries. Doctors have been using calcium to assess the heart health of their patients f...