Medical Imaging
Seeing more than meets the eye is the goal of imaging services at Flowers Hospital. Whether it’s an ultrasound, MRI or mammogram, taking a picture of what’s happening inside your body can help physicians reach the proper diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment.
With care and compassion, the medical staff of our imaging services offers a variety of services with these tools:
- Computed Tomography (CT) creates detailed images of your body’s internal organs using X-rays with computer technology. The doughnut-shaped scanner uses radiation to create cross-sectional images, or “slices,” that help physicians detect tumors, heart disease or internal injuries or bleeding. A CT scan may require that you not eat or drink if you have to drink a contrast liquid—which helps healthcare providers see body structures more clearly—or have a contrast dye injected before the test. The exam usually lasts less than an hour, including any preparations, though the actual scan may only last a minute or two.
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create cross-sectional images of your head, body, muscles and blood flow. Because an MRI provides a clear view of internal organs and tissues, it helps physicians diagnose injuries and other health conditions much faster than with other technologies. For patients who have pacemakers or implantable cardioverter defibrillators, a computed tomography (CT ) scan may be a safer imaging tool. (The devices may malfunction during an MRI scan).
- Nuclear medicine uses tiny amounts of radioactive materials to perform heart studies and diagnose bone cancer, bone infections and stress fractures. The radioactive materials are introduced into the patient’s body by injection, swallowing or inhalation. Special cameras that work with computers detect the radioactive materials to provide sharp images of the body.
- Conventional Radiography - The Radiology Department is under the direction of a radiologist who is a physician specialist in the study of x-rays. Radiographs are taken by radiographic technologists upon order from the attending physician. They are then evaluated by the radiologist to help the attending physician diagnose and treat the patient.
- Interventional Radiography is a subspecialty of radiology in which minimally invasive procedures are performed using image guidance. Some of these procedures are done purely for diagnostic purposes (e.g. angiogram), while others are done for treatment purposes (e.g. angioplasty). Pictures (images) are used to direct these procedures, which are usually done with needles or other tiny instruments like small tubes called catheters. The images provide road maps that allow the Interventional Radiologist to guide these instruments through the body to the areas of interest.
- PET/CT combines two highly advanced modalities. By monitoring glucose metabolism. PET provides very sensitive information regardless of whether a growth within the body is cancerous or not. The focus of most studies is on the detection and staging of cancer.
- Ultrasound uses high-frequency sound waves to evaluate organs in the body and commonly to examine fetal development. Detailed images are returned in real time, making ultrasound particularly helpful for guiding minimally invasive procedures—such as needle biopsies—and for visualizing organ, blood vessel and tissue movement. Ultrasound is frequently used on obstetrical patients to observe the unborn child.
- Mammography (Women's Diagnostic Center) - Mammography is primarily used for screening patients for early detection of breast cancer, while diagnostic mammography follows patients with a suspected or known breast issue. Biopsies of suspicious areas are also performed in the Women's Center by a Board Certified Radiologist. Learn more about our digital mammograms.
Learn More: www.radiologyinfo.org