Radiology Services

The staff of Adventist Midwest Health is committed to giving you top quality care with the latest technologies in medical imaging. With convenient locations in both hospital and outpatient settings, we’ll ensure you’re comfortable with the tests you need performed. We offer a comprehensive array of services to meet your every imaging need and brief descriptions of the most common tests are below. To schedule a test, please call 630-856-7070. Services offered vary at each location.

Mammography & Women’s Services

Adventist Imaging Network provides the highest quality personalized care for women. Mammography is available at five of our sites, including Adventist Bolingbrook Medical Center, DuPage Imaging Center, Grant Square Imaging, Adventist GlenOaks Hospital, and Adventist La Grange Memorial Hospital. In addition to mammography, we offer some of the most advanced technologies for breast care and women’s health care. Please call 630-856-7070 to schedule appointments. Please note that services vary at each location.

Mammography

Breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women, with 175,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the US. Many women’s lives can be saved if their cancers are caught and treated at an early, more curable stage. The only technique proven to reduce the number of deaths is routine mammography to screen women for breast cancer. A screening mammogram is an x-ray performed on a woman with no symptoms and no history of breast cancer. Many professional associations, including the American Cancer Society and the American College of Radiology, recommend annual screening mammograms for women over the age of 40. Because of this, we do not require a prescription from your doctor for screening mammograms for women over 40. However, if you have a past history of breast cancer or abnormalities in your mammogram, a prescription is necessary. Sometimes, the woman will be asked to return for additional x-rays or for ultrasound (or both). This does not mean that cancer has been found, only that more images are needed to provide a complete evaluation of the breast. The additional images are called a diagnostic mammogram or diagnostic ultrasound exam. Also, if you have any current breast problems or a history of breast cancer, diagnostic studies would be done rather than a screening exam.

Breast Ultrasound

Breast ultrasound is often used in conjunction with mammography. It is a very useful diagnostic tool in visualizing breast abnormalities. It is important to note, however that ultrasound is not a good screening tool, but it is best used in concert with mammography. Both tests together can make for a better diagnosis.

Breast MRI

A breast MRI takes a closer look at the breast than most other exams. MRI is used in conjunction with mammography for patients who have known cancer, implants or dense breasts. It is a useful tool in addition to mammography and ultrasound, for certain breast abnormalities, but is not a screening tool on its own.

Image Guided Breast Biopsy

Adventist Imaging Network offers two types of image guided breast biopsies - stereotactic and ultrasound guided. A stereotactic breast biopsy is a test in which x-ray guidance is used to find the exact area of concern. Tissue samples are then taken with a needle. An ultrasound-guided breast biopsy is basically the same procedure, except ultrasound guidance is used instead of x-ray. The tissue samples are then sent to the lab and analyzed. This method of breast biopsy has become the standard of care in the industry and is the easiest form of breast biopsy for the patient.

Patient Navigator

As a courtesy to our patients, the new position of Patient Navigator recently became a part of Adventist Imaging Network. Rexine Hamill works solely in the women’s services centers and is there to help guide women through the system. She can help to schedule follow-up appointments, biopsies, wire localizations and surgeries. In addition, she is there as a resource for anybody with questions, concerns or worries about their test results. To reach Rexine, please call 630-856-4824.

Radiology Services

Diagnostic X-Ray

General x-rays are usually the first exams ordered by a physician to aide in the diagnostic process. They show bones and soft tissues of the body. General diagnostic x-ray includes all routine exams covering areas such as the chest, abdomen and extremities to more complex studies such as upper and lower gastrointestinal (G.I.) exams as well as biopsy procedures. When getting an x-ray, the body part to be examined is placed between an x-ray source (tube) and an image receptor (film or a digital device), and pictures are taken of the area to be examined.

Computed Tomography (CT)

A CT scan, or “cat” scan, is a set of highly-detailed images of the body. The images are taken through the body like bread is sliced, and can show abnormalities inside the body which are invisible to the naked eye. A CT scanner is a highly sophisticated, computer-controlled x-ray machine. While the patient lies on a table, an x-ray beam rotates around the patient to collect the images. Because CT uses x-rays, it is best at detecting bones and soft tissue. CT scans are especially valuable in emergency and critical care medicine, where rapid, accurate diagnosis may allow lifesaving treatments to be performed because of its fast results. Additionally, the most advanced CT scanners can also perform virtual colonography, unparalleled cardiac scans, and can evaluate blood flow in organs.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

MRI is a test using a large magnet and radio waves to produce highly detailed images of the body. Unlike CT and x-ray, it does not use radiation. When having an MRI, no metal (including plates in the body) can enter the scan room because of the magnet. MRI scans take longer to perform than do CT scans, but they are able to detect more detailed images of nerves, muscles, vessels and fluid in addition to bones and soft tissue. MRIs are often done of the brain, heart, spine, joints, blood vessels and organs, but can be performed on most parts of the body. To the untrained eye, an MRI slice looks similar to a CT slice. However, to the radiologist, MRI images are much more detailed than CT images.

Ultrasound/Vascular Lab

Like MRI, there is no radiation exposure from ultrasound. The technologist will apply a warm gel on the body part and a probe with a soft surface will be massaged about the skin. This probe sends sound waves into the body and pictures are formed by the way the waves bounce off the soft tissues and organs. Generally, ultrasounds are non-invasive, pain free and are performed rather quickly. Ultrasound is well known because of its use in obstetrics and gynecology. Though this is one of the most common uses, there are many other reasons to have an ultrasound performed. Ultrasound is best known for its ability to pick up the difference between fluid filled masses (a cyst) or stones and solid structures (organs). In the vascular lab, ultrasound machines are used to create full studies of your arteries and veins to see how your blood flows.

Nuclear Medicine

Nuclear medicine scans are ‘opposite’ of x-rays and CT scans. Instead of radiation coming through the machine to see inside the body, a radioactive substance is injected into the body before the scan. Then, the nuclear medicine camera uses no radiation, but instead is able to detect where the radioactive substance is within the body because the body accepts the radioactive substance as a normal bodily process. Because of this, nuclear medicine scans are often used to determine how the body functions. Some of the most common tests performed in nuclear medicine are bone scans, tumor location and nuclear medicine cardiac stress tests.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/Molecular Imaging

Like traditional nuclear medicine scans, PET scans analyze the body’s chemistry, cell function and find exact locations of disease. PET scans are part of nuclear medicine, so they work similarly to a nuclear medicine scan. Before the PET scan, a radioactive substance is injected into the body. The body metabolizes the substance and the camera detects where it goes. Since tumors metabolize the substance faster than healthy tissue, tumors are exposed where the substance accumulates to give a very precise picture of tumor shape and size. Because of this, PET scans are very good at finding metastatic cancer – cancer that has spread from its original location – and are often used in planning treatments for cancer patients. Additionally, in people who have Alzheimer’s disease, the brain uses sugar differently. A PET scan will show the radiologist where the sugar goes and can confirm whether or not there is a presence of Alzheimer’s disease. PET scans are often combined with CT scans, MRIs or other standard imaging procedures in order to give the doctor a comprehensive look inside the body. Furthermore, because of the difference in the radioactive substance, images taken by the PET scan can be reconstructed into 3-D images whereas most traditional nuclear medicine scans cannot. The PET scanner Adventist Im-CT body scan (left) aging Network uses is with Molecular Imaging of Suburban Chicago at 908 Elm Street.

Interventional Radiology

Interventional Radiologists use x-rays, ultrasound, CT scans or other imaging techniques to guide tiny tubes, wires and other miniaturized instruments through small openings in the skin to treat a variety of conditions without surgery. In most cases, no surgical incision or stitches are required, and general anesthesia is rarely needed. These procedures have several potential advantages over their surgical alternatives, including less pain, fewer complications and risks, shorter recovery times, and less (or no) blood loss. Some of the more well-known procedures are: angioplasty to treat clogged blood vessels in the legs, kidneys, neck, brain or other areas of the body; uterine fibroid embolization (UFE) to remove fibroids without surgery; vertebroplasty to treat compression fractures of the spine by injecting cement to keep the broken bones together; varicocele embolization and treatment of varicose veins with lasers; and radiofrequency ablation to non-surgically treat cancer in certain areas of the body through radio energy destroying the tumor.

Picture Archiving Communication System (PACS)

PACS is not a test - it is a new technology implemented to allow physicians faster and easier access to their patients’ radiology tests and results. PACS eliminates the need for film in radiology. After a test is run, whether it be CT, MRI, x-ray or any other test in radiology, the images are immediately transmitted into the computer system and films are not printed. When patients or physicians need copies of their images, they will be given CDs that can be viewed on any computer, instead of a bulky file of films. Additionally, an internet-based system, Web1000, allows physicians with privileges to treat and admit patients to view both radiology images and reports from any computer with an internet connection. Because of this system, radiologists can review images faster because they don’t have to wait for the films. Other physicians are able to see their patients’ results faster and with more convenience. This also allows for comparison between current studies and previous films; regardless of the Adventist Midwest Health facility at which they were taken.