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Are ultrasounds and CT scans the same thing?

There was a flyer in the local newspaper offering body "scans" for $500. Is that the same as a CT scan? Is an ultrasound useful full body?

Public Comments

1. U/S and CT are not they same thing. A bodyscan may refer to a MRI or a CT scan. U/S uses sounds waves to create an image. Not always accurate, but portable and relatively inexpensive. CT scan takes multiple pictures (like an xray), and then a computer creates 3D cross sections (or slices) of whatever part of your body that's being scanned. CT is a large machine, to put it simply, you lie down on a table, and it goes around you.
2. Both are radiological examination but definitely not the same. An Ultrasound is non-invasive examination that uses high frequency sound waves to create a visual image on a "certain" body organs like the liver, etc, its advatage is safe from radiation. while a CT scans, a Computed Tomography scan, is an examination that uses radiation to provide a detailed image of our whole body. the images are presented in a cross-sectional cuts and even the minute blood vessels are seen depending on the slice thickness. more advanced application of CT scan like those with incorporated PET /SPECT(positron emission tomography/ single photon emission tomography) are useful for functional studies and even provides a unique information about about body's metabolic process, and etc.