Imaging (Radiology)

Our department is designed to give the highest quality care. Patients may receive important routine screenings as well as site-specific diagnostic procedures delivered with timely and accurate results.

Services Offered:

1. Routine Diagnostic Radiology 731-6013
2. CT Scan 731-6093
3. Ultrasound 731-6401
4. Mammography 731-6013
5. Nuclear Medicine 731-6024
6. Cardiac Catherization 731-6969
7. Special Procedures 731-6969
8. PET Scan 731-6013

Scheduling an Appointment

Please call 919-731-6013 for any questions regarding procedures scheduled by your ordering physician's office. All exams require a written order from a physician/approved health care provider. Please bring all orders with you to your appointment. No written order is needed for routine yearly mammograms.

Routine Hours of Operation

• Monday-Friday 7:30am - 4:00pm
• Diagnostic services are available 24 hours a day.
• All services deemed emergent by your ordering physician, after routine business hours, would be performed on a technologist call back basis.

To Pick up X-Ray Films

Please call the Imaging Department between the hours of 7:30am - 4:00pm to request your films be pulled and readied for pick-up. Due to the HIPAA regulations, you will be required to fill out a form in order to pick up your films. Should it become necessary for someone else to pick up your films, please bring a letter written by the patient that designates you as approved to pick up their films.

Should you need additional information such as reports, etc. please contact the HIM, formerly Medical Records, Department for help.

We want to share a little bit about how x-rays help your physicians diagnose illness.  Below are short descriptions of each modality and answers to frequently asked questions:

Routine Diagnostic Radiology

What is it?
Diagnostic radiology, or diagnostic imaging, is the medical evaluation of body tissues and functions- both normal anatomy and physiology and abnormalities caused by disease or injury by means of still or moving images.

Radiography, known to most people as x-ray, is the oldest and most frequently used form of medical imaging. For nearly half a century, diagnostic images have been created by passing a small amount of radiation through the human body, capturing the resulting shadows and reflections on a photographic plate.

What is this modality used to see?
X-Ray is the quickest and easiest way for a physician to verify and assess broken bones. X-ray is also used to identify disease processes in bone such as cancer. X-rays of the chest are the most frequently ordered diagnostic tests. Chest x-rays are taken for evaluation of the lungs, heart and chest wall. Patients may have a chest x-ray for symptoms such as shortness of breath, a bad or persistent cough, chest pain, chest injury, or even fever.


Computed Tomography

What is it?
Computed tomography, sometimes called CT or CAT scan, uses special x-ray equipment to obtain image data from different angles in the body, and then uses computer processing of that information to show a cross-section of body tissues and organs.

What is this modality used to see?
CT imaging is useful because it can show several types of tissue, such as lung, bone, soft tissue and even blood vessels. CT scans of the body to diagnose such disease processes as cancers, cardiovascular disease, infectious disease, trauma, and musculoskeletal disorders.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging

What is it?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging, sometimes called MRI, uses radio frequency waves and a strong magnetic field rather than x-rays to provide detailed pictures of internal organs and tissues.

What is this modality used to see?
This technique is used to provide valuable information for the diagnosis of a broad range of disease processes such as, cancer, heart and vascular disease, stroke, joint and other musculoskeletal disorders. MRI requires specialized equipment and allows evaluation of some body structures not previously visualized by other imaging methods.

Ultrasound

What is it?
Ultrasound (US) imaging, also called ultrasonography, is a method of obtaining images of the internal structures of the body by the use of high frequency sound waves. The reflected sound wave echoes are recorded and displayed as a real-time visual image. No ionizing radiation is involved in ultrasound imaging.

What is this modality used to see?
Ultrasound is used to examine many of the body's internal organs including the heart, liver, gallbladder, spleen, pancreas, kidneys and bladder. Ultrasound images are captured in real-time and can show movement of internal organs and tissues and enable physicians to see blood flow and functioning of various body parts.

Mammography

What is it?
Mammography is a specific type of imaging that uses a low-dose radiation system for exams of the breast. Experts agree that early diagnosis of breast cancer leads to more successful treatment of this disease. Mammography plays a leading role in the fight against breast cancer due to the fact that it can detect changes in breast tissue as early as two years before a patient or their physician can feel these changes.

What is this modality used to see?
Mammography is used to aid in early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer. Screening mammograms can assist your physician in this diagnosis even if you have no signs or symptoms of disease. The American Cancer Society recommends that women have a baseline mammogram done at age 35 and begin yearly mammograms at age 40 unless their baseline is abnormal or symptomatic. Always discuss this type of procedure with your physician.

Nuclear Medicine

What is it?
Nuclear Medicine comprises diagnostic images of body anatomy and function. The images are developed based on the detection of energy emitted from a radioactive substance given to the patient, either by way of an iv injection or by mouth.

What is this modality used to see?
Nuclear medicine can evaluate organ function. Tumors, infection and other disorders can be detected by evaluating organ function. Nuclear Medicine can be used to analyze kidney function, image blood flow and function of the heart, scan the lungs for respiratory and blood flow function, identify blockages of the gallbladder, evaluate bones for fractures, infection, arthritis or tumor, determine the spread or presence of cancer, identify bleeding into the bowel, and even measure thyroid function to detect and underactive or overactive thyroid.





Cardiac Catheterization

What is it?
The Cardiac Catheterization procedure involves the use of x-rays and a contrast agent (commonly referred to as a dye) for the visualization of structures within the heart. Heart valves and chambers, heart muscle, and the coronary arteries are displayed during this procedure.

A small tube is inserted into an artery, usually in the groin area. Fine catheters are threaded up through the vessel until they are positioned in the heart. Once the catheter is placed, the cardiologist (heart

specialist) may inject the contrast agent and record the images obtained with specialized x-ray equipment. The procedure may take between 1-2 hours, and the patient may be required to stay at the hospital from 4-6 hours including recovery time.

What is this modality used to see?
The Catheterization procedure is generally performed after other cardiac diagnostic test have indicated potentially significant problems. Coronary artery disease is by far the most common indication for this procedure. Areas of narrowing or blockages of the arteries are defined on the recordings, which are stored on a compact disc for future reference. In addition, pictures are taken to document the strength of the heart muscle, and the function of the heart valves.

Special Procedures/Angioplasty

What is it?
Angioplasty is a way of opening a narrowed or closed blood vessel without having to do major surgery. A catheter with a tiny balloon at its tip is inserted into the vessel, usually a major artery supplying blood to the arm or leg, once positioned the balloon is inflated and then deflated and removed.

What is this modality used to see?
The narrowing or blockage is most often caused by arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, when fatty plaques form on the inner wall of the artery and become larger, slowly cutting down on free blood flow. The images created by the equipment show areas of blockage.

A large percentage of angioplasty procedures use a stent, a hollow thin-walled wire mesh tube, to keep the artery open after widening it. The stent is placed into the balloon and pressed firmly against the artery wall when inflating it. The balloon is then deflated, leaving the stent in place to act as a scaffold.


Positron Emission Tomography

What is it?
Positron Emission Tomography or PET scans use a camera that produces powerful images of the human body's biological functions.

What is this modality used to see?
Compounds like simple sugars (glucose, for example) are labeled with signal-emitting tracers and are injected into the patient. A scanner or camera records the signals these tracers emit as they travel through the body and collect in the various organs targeted for examination. A computer reassembles the signals into actual images- these are the first ever pictures to show biological causes of normal organ function and failure of organ systems in disease.

PET scans can effectively pinpoint the source of the most common cancers, heart and neurological diseases, which in some cases eliminates the need for redundant tests and unnecessary diagnostic surgical procedures.