Radiology

picture of Radiology The Radiology Department is fully staffed from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. with radiologic technologists, ultrasound technologists and a receptionist. There is a technologist on-call from 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 a.m. for emergencies and weekends.

The department performs a wide range of studies that include:

Ultrasounds
Computed Tomography Scans (CT)
Mammograms
Gastrointestinal Studies
Urinary Tract Studies
Biopsies
General Radiography
Bone Densitometry

There are also a variety of mobile services that come to Myrtue Medical Center:

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Nuclear medicine
Stereotactic breast biopsy

Stereotactic Breast Biopsy:
Stereotactic breast biopsy is a minimally invasive procedure, which enables your surgeon to retrieve multiple tissue samples from a breast mass with the insertion of a single needle, without anesthesia or disfiguring scars.

There are several advantages over standard biopsy procedures.

These include:

Consistently captures samples approximately 100 mg. Especially important in early stage diagnosis where sampling may consist of micro calcifications
Minimizes bleeding, trauma and breast disfigurement or scarring

During the procedure you will be taken to the Mobile Unit by Radiology personnel. You will be assisted onto a table, which allows the breast to be placed in a mammogram-like panel while you are lying down. Less compression is required than for the mammogram procedure. After positioning, your mammographer will take an image of your breast. A physician will inject local anesthesia into the tissue to be biopsied. A special needle is positioned and the biopsy is taken.

Most women feel a slight sensation of tingling or pressure, but the procedure is not painful.

Breast cancer, the most common cancer in women, accounts for one-third of cancer diagnosis in women. In 1996, new cases of invasive breast cancer were expected to number 184,300. Despite the alarming figures, the incidence of biopsied lesions diagnosed as cancerous is quite low. The incident rate is low owing in part to the increased use of and technological advances in screening mammography. Mammograms not only reveal nonpalpable lesions, but also allow identification and removal of potentially dangerous lesions while they are still precancerous.