When most people think of imaging, they think of an X-ray, CT scan or MRI.
In fact, imaging has evolved beyond those three modalities into one of the most sophisticated fields of medical technology.
Imaging is essential to many surgical procedures and is actually done simultaneously with the procedure.
In addition, medical imaging now includes technology that can produce 3-D images.
Tune in to SMG Radio to hear Summit Medical Group imaging expert Kathryn Vendemia describe the full range of imaging services at SMG.
Selected Podcast
Imaging Services at SMG
Featured Speaker:
Kathryn Vendemia, RT
Kathryn Vendemia is the Associate Director of Imaging at Summit Medical Group. Transcription:
Imaging Services at SMG
Melanie Cole (Host): When many people think of imaging, they think of an X-ray, CT scan or MRI. In fact, imaging has evolved beyond those three modalities into one of the most sophisticated fields of medical technology. Imaging is essential to many surgical procedures, and, in some cases, actually done simultaneously with the procedure. My guest today is Kathy Vendemia. She's the Associate Director of Imaging at Summit Medical Group. Welcome to the show, Kathy. So, tell us a little bit about imaging and how it's evolved and what encompasses, this technology today.
Kathy Vendemia (Guest): So, thank you, Melanie. It's certainly a pleasure to be here representing Summit Medical Group. Well, as you said in your beginning, imaging, certainly most people think of imaging as strictly x-ray and then a lot of people became more familiar with CAT scans and computed axial tomography and MRI, which is magnetic resonance imaging. But, it also encompasses nuclear medicine, ultrasound, digital mammography. There are so many different facets now of imaging. As you said, it is used not only for just general imaging but we work in conjunction now with many of the surgeons to do our procedures under an imaging guidance that allows the patient not have to go to surgery and it's a much quicker recovery time for those patients. So, imaging really has its hands in a lot of different areas of medicine right now.
Melanie: Now, give us a bit of an overview. At Summit, what are you doing there that’s exciting?
Kathy: So, at Summit Medical Group, we're very fortunate, here at Summit, to have the best of the best regarding the imaging equipment. All of our imaging equipment is state-of-the-art and, at this time, we are fortunate for our patients to now have four major locations that have imaging centers. In those centers, we're open 365 days a year, which is very nice for most of our patients. We're all out there working full-time. It's not easy to just get between the hours of 9:00-5:00. So, all of our imaging centers are open 365 days a year and we're open from 7:00 in the morning until 8:30-9:00 in the evening, Monday through Friday and Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00-5:00. What we have is any of those appointments that you may need during the day, whether it's a general X-ray, whether it's for a mammogram, for an ultrasound, a CAT scan, an MRI, we also provide those appointments in the evening, on Saturdays and many of the modalities, MRI, CT, X-ray, also on a Sunday. So, it makes it very easy for all of our busy patients to be able to get an appointment. So, that's pretty exciting. Also, at Summit Medical Group, we work in conjunction with our laboratory department and all of the physicians. We are completely digital, which means there's no more film in imaging. People used to think of imaging with holding up the films in the dark room. Well, that's no longer. All of our imaging is completely digital which means no matter where you go as a patient, your images are able to be viewed by any of our over 450 providers in any of our over 50 locations--wherever you may be. So, you as a patient can go to one of our imaging centers which is most convenient for you and no matter where your provider is in our system, we'll be able to pull up those images quickly. So, that's pretty exciting. We are able to offer them any imaging procedure that they may need--from a general X-ray up to the most complex MRI-guided biopsies. So, those are some of the exciting things we have here at Summit Medical Group.
Melanie: That is exciting and you explain them so beautifully, Kathy. So, speak to the patients a little bit about what they can expect. For example, with breast mammography and people think they've got that waiting time. You're waiting for the pictures to come out, and we all hate that letter, “you have to come back.” So, give a little bit of an overview of what they can expect with some of these and how long they wait for results.
Kathy: So, I understand and that is probably, of all of areas I deal with, mammography sometimes is the most challenging because it's so personal when a woman comes for a mammogram and you're concerned, you're anxious, you want those results. We all here certainly understand that. So, the most important thing to understand when you come for a mammogram is that over--and I would say 80-85%--of women that come for a mammogram, they come one time, they’ll get those results, and everything will be fine. So, the majority of the time you're coming, you're going to be absolutely fine. But, there are times that that does not occur. I understand that every woman wants to come and get those results immediately and we'd love to be able to do that, but we see a lot of patients in mammography. So, we have two programs. There's the screening program and there's the diagnostic program. The screening program simply means that if you're coming for your yearly mammogram and everything is fine and there are no problems or concerns, you're going to come in and you're literally going to be in and out hopefully within 10-15 minutes, which makes a big difference to a lot of women that are busy these days. And, within the course of 3-5 business days, that mammogram will be read in a screening session with the radiologist that strictly sits there with no distractions and works to read your mammogram. Hopefully, you'll get those results and it will be dictated and those results will be fine and you don't need to come back to us for another year. Now, if you come and you have a problem--a lump or whatever particular problem you may feel or your doctor may feel--that's called a “diagnostic mammogram”. You're not going to wait for those results. You're coming with a problem and we want you to leave with an answer. If you're booked as a diagnostic mammogram, all of those images, which are different from just a screening mammogram. Screening mammogram, four images and you're out. With a diagnostic mammogram, we're going to do whatever imaging we need, and there are different positions that we may do to get an answer that the radiologist needs. So, that when you leave, and, hopefully, those are still going to be fine. That happens, also. Sometimes, it's absolutely nothing. It's just breast tissue, it's simple cysts and nothing to worry about. But, if there is something of concern that needs to be followed up, you're going to immediately sit down--and this is another great feature we offer for our women-- with a nurse navigator and the radiologist and they're going to explain to you what they've found. In that case, after the radiologist has explained to you what might be the case, need to see the surgeon, whatever they're recommending, that radiologist will leave and the navigator's now going to sit with you and say "Okay, what did you hear?" because most people stop hearing when they think there's something wrong.
Melanie: Of course. Yes.
Kathy: And anything that's needed, if it's a surgeon, if it's a biopsy—whatever--we're going to make those arrangements for you. So that when you leave, you've not only heard this, "Okay, I have something wrong,” but “Now, I have a plan. I know what I'm going to do." So, that makes a big difference to our patients and that navigator then follows that patient through the whole continuum of care. So, that is another wonderful program in the mammo-world that we have for patient care. So, we'll make those appointments for you and we just follow through. When you come back, if you do need a biopsy--and I talked about biopsies under imaging guidance--it could be either under ultrasound or mammo. You don't necessarily now have to go up to the OR and have an open biopsy. We can do a closed biopsy in the imaging department with our nurses and surgeons or a radiologist. That is done as an outpatient and you're in and out within 45 minutes. We send those results to pathology and get those results as quickly as possible. So, those are some of the things we do very well here at the imaging department.
Melanie: Wow. How encouraging. I applaud all the great work that you do. We don't have a lot of time, Kathy, but give us a little quick overview of the new silent MRI scanner, because people think of an MRI as a pounding--hammer sounding. Tell us a little bit about this silent MRI.
Kathy: So, we do have one silent MRI and that's located in our Berkeley Heights facility and, at this time, I think there's a little confusion, it's not with all of the scans that we can do under MRI, but it's some of the brain imaging that is FDA-approved to use the software that we can do the silent scanning. And you're right. It's a pounding, pounding, pounding, and for a lot of patients, that's uncomfortable when you're in there to hear that pounding. Although, I will tell you that some patients go in there and fall asleep, no matter if it's pounding or not pounding. So, we do have the ability here at Berkeley Heights to do some silent scans in the brain imaging and we're waiting for FDA approval to do some additional imaging--body imaging. We do have from an MR perspective, also for the claustrophobic patient, we have what is called a wide-bore MRI at all our sites. That means the actual tunnel, the tube you are in, is much wider than the traditional MRI and well-lit and comfortable with a Tempurpedic mattress, so that we can make you as comfortable as possible through any of the MRI scanning. In our Florham Parks site, we also have an extremity MRI so that if you are doing your hands, your feet, your ankles, you're very comfortable. You just sit. It's like a chair. You actually sit in a chair, put in your hands, put in your feet, put in your knees. So, for the truly claustrophobic patient that makes it a little bit easier. For the truly, truly claustrophobic patient, we also do sedation MRI on Monday afternoons in conjunction with our anesthesiologist and our nurses here. So, if you need an MRI and you're truly claustrophobic, we do have sedation. So, you'll come, we'll put you to sleep, you'll have your MRI and you won't know what hit you.
Melanie: Wow, what great information. In just the last minute here, Kathy, kind of wrap it up with really what you want the listeners to know about imaging and Summit Medical Group.
Kathy: I want them to know that patients have a choice where they want to go and we have to give them a lot of good reasons to choose Summit Medical Group's Imaging Department. Overall, I think, the reasons are--without specifying: quality. It shouldn't even be a concern. Quality is the number one, but really about the patient experience. You should come here and feel that we have taken care of you with the best imaging, with the best technologists and care for all of our patients. So, you have a choice and we want you to choose us and we give you the reasons that when you leave here saying, "Wow, that wasn't so bad." I think that's what we do here at Summit Medical Group. We have a wide breadth of experienced radiologists--over 22 different radiologists that specialize in neuro-imaging, body imaging, and mammographers. Their turnaround time is fairly quickly. We dictate those cases in our voice rec system. Those results go to the ordering provider very quickly. So, I think we try to provide the best service possible to our patients.
Melanie: Thank you so much. You're listening to SMG Radio. And for more information, you can go to SummitMedicalGroup.com. That's SummitMedicalGroup.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.
Imaging Services at SMG
Melanie Cole (Host): When many people think of imaging, they think of an X-ray, CT scan or MRI. In fact, imaging has evolved beyond those three modalities into one of the most sophisticated fields of medical technology. Imaging is essential to many surgical procedures, and, in some cases, actually done simultaneously with the procedure. My guest today is Kathy Vendemia. She's the Associate Director of Imaging at Summit Medical Group. Welcome to the show, Kathy. So, tell us a little bit about imaging and how it's evolved and what encompasses, this technology today.
Kathy Vendemia (Guest): So, thank you, Melanie. It's certainly a pleasure to be here representing Summit Medical Group. Well, as you said in your beginning, imaging, certainly most people think of imaging as strictly x-ray and then a lot of people became more familiar with CAT scans and computed axial tomography and MRI, which is magnetic resonance imaging. But, it also encompasses nuclear medicine, ultrasound, digital mammography. There are so many different facets now of imaging. As you said, it is used not only for just general imaging but we work in conjunction now with many of the surgeons to do our procedures under an imaging guidance that allows the patient not have to go to surgery and it's a much quicker recovery time for those patients. So, imaging really has its hands in a lot of different areas of medicine right now.
Melanie: Now, give us a bit of an overview. At Summit, what are you doing there that’s exciting?
Kathy: So, at Summit Medical Group, we're very fortunate, here at Summit, to have the best of the best regarding the imaging equipment. All of our imaging equipment is state-of-the-art and, at this time, we are fortunate for our patients to now have four major locations that have imaging centers. In those centers, we're open 365 days a year, which is very nice for most of our patients. We're all out there working full-time. It's not easy to just get between the hours of 9:00-5:00. So, all of our imaging centers are open 365 days a year and we're open from 7:00 in the morning until 8:30-9:00 in the evening, Monday through Friday and Saturdays and Sundays from 8:00-5:00. What we have is any of those appointments that you may need during the day, whether it's a general X-ray, whether it's for a mammogram, for an ultrasound, a CAT scan, an MRI, we also provide those appointments in the evening, on Saturdays and many of the modalities, MRI, CT, X-ray, also on a Sunday. So, it makes it very easy for all of our busy patients to be able to get an appointment. So, that's pretty exciting. Also, at Summit Medical Group, we work in conjunction with our laboratory department and all of the physicians. We are completely digital, which means there's no more film in imaging. People used to think of imaging with holding up the films in the dark room. Well, that's no longer. All of our imaging is completely digital which means no matter where you go as a patient, your images are able to be viewed by any of our over 450 providers in any of our over 50 locations--wherever you may be. So, you as a patient can go to one of our imaging centers which is most convenient for you and no matter where your provider is in our system, we'll be able to pull up those images quickly. So, that's pretty exciting. We are able to offer them any imaging procedure that they may need--from a general X-ray up to the most complex MRI-guided biopsies. So, those are some of the exciting things we have here at Summit Medical Group.
Melanie: That is exciting and you explain them so beautifully, Kathy. So, speak to the patients a little bit about what they can expect. For example, with breast mammography and people think they've got that waiting time. You're waiting for the pictures to come out, and we all hate that letter, “you have to come back.” So, give a little bit of an overview of what they can expect with some of these and how long they wait for results.
Kathy: So, I understand and that is probably, of all of areas I deal with, mammography sometimes is the most challenging because it's so personal when a woman comes for a mammogram and you're concerned, you're anxious, you want those results. We all here certainly understand that. So, the most important thing to understand when you come for a mammogram is that over--and I would say 80-85%--of women that come for a mammogram, they come one time, they’ll get those results, and everything will be fine. So, the majority of the time you're coming, you're going to be absolutely fine. But, there are times that that does not occur. I understand that every woman wants to come and get those results immediately and we'd love to be able to do that, but we see a lot of patients in mammography. So, we have two programs. There's the screening program and there's the diagnostic program. The screening program simply means that if you're coming for your yearly mammogram and everything is fine and there are no problems or concerns, you're going to come in and you're literally going to be in and out hopefully within 10-15 minutes, which makes a big difference to a lot of women that are busy these days. And, within the course of 3-5 business days, that mammogram will be read in a screening session with the radiologist that strictly sits there with no distractions and works to read your mammogram. Hopefully, you'll get those results and it will be dictated and those results will be fine and you don't need to come back to us for another year. Now, if you come and you have a problem--a lump or whatever particular problem you may feel or your doctor may feel--that's called a “diagnostic mammogram”. You're not going to wait for those results. You're coming with a problem and we want you to leave with an answer. If you're booked as a diagnostic mammogram, all of those images, which are different from just a screening mammogram. Screening mammogram, four images and you're out. With a diagnostic mammogram, we're going to do whatever imaging we need, and there are different positions that we may do to get an answer that the radiologist needs. So, that when you leave, and, hopefully, those are still going to be fine. That happens, also. Sometimes, it's absolutely nothing. It's just breast tissue, it's simple cysts and nothing to worry about. But, if there is something of concern that needs to be followed up, you're going to immediately sit down--and this is another great feature we offer for our women-- with a nurse navigator and the radiologist and they're going to explain to you what they've found. In that case, after the radiologist has explained to you what might be the case, need to see the surgeon, whatever they're recommending, that radiologist will leave and the navigator's now going to sit with you and say "Okay, what did you hear?" because most people stop hearing when they think there's something wrong.
Melanie: Of course. Yes.
Kathy: And anything that's needed, if it's a surgeon, if it's a biopsy—whatever--we're going to make those arrangements for you. So that when you leave, you've not only heard this, "Okay, I have something wrong,” but “Now, I have a plan. I know what I'm going to do." So, that makes a big difference to our patients and that navigator then follows that patient through the whole continuum of care. So, that is another wonderful program in the mammo-world that we have for patient care. So, we'll make those appointments for you and we just follow through. When you come back, if you do need a biopsy--and I talked about biopsies under imaging guidance--it could be either under ultrasound or mammo. You don't necessarily now have to go up to the OR and have an open biopsy. We can do a closed biopsy in the imaging department with our nurses and surgeons or a radiologist. That is done as an outpatient and you're in and out within 45 minutes. We send those results to pathology and get those results as quickly as possible. So, those are some of the things we do very well here at the imaging department.
Melanie: Wow. How encouraging. I applaud all the great work that you do. We don't have a lot of time, Kathy, but give us a little quick overview of the new silent MRI scanner, because people think of an MRI as a pounding--hammer sounding. Tell us a little bit about this silent MRI.
Kathy: So, we do have one silent MRI and that's located in our Berkeley Heights facility and, at this time, I think there's a little confusion, it's not with all of the scans that we can do under MRI, but it's some of the brain imaging that is FDA-approved to use the software that we can do the silent scanning. And you're right. It's a pounding, pounding, pounding, and for a lot of patients, that's uncomfortable when you're in there to hear that pounding. Although, I will tell you that some patients go in there and fall asleep, no matter if it's pounding or not pounding. So, we do have the ability here at Berkeley Heights to do some silent scans in the brain imaging and we're waiting for FDA approval to do some additional imaging--body imaging. We do have from an MR perspective, also for the claustrophobic patient, we have what is called a wide-bore MRI at all our sites. That means the actual tunnel, the tube you are in, is much wider than the traditional MRI and well-lit and comfortable with a Tempurpedic mattress, so that we can make you as comfortable as possible through any of the MRI scanning. In our Florham Parks site, we also have an extremity MRI so that if you are doing your hands, your feet, your ankles, you're very comfortable. You just sit. It's like a chair. You actually sit in a chair, put in your hands, put in your feet, put in your knees. So, for the truly claustrophobic patient that makes it a little bit easier. For the truly, truly claustrophobic patient, we also do sedation MRI on Monday afternoons in conjunction with our anesthesiologist and our nurses here. So, if you need an MRI and you're truly claustrophobic, we do have sedation. So, you'll come, we'll put you to sleep, you'll have your MRI and you won't know what hit you.
Melanie: Wow, what great information. In just the last minute here, Kathy, kind of wrap it up with really what you want the listeners to know about imaging and Summit Medical Group.
Kathy: I want them to know that patients have a choice where they want to go and we have to give them a lot of good reasons to choose Summit Medical Group's Imaging Department. Overall, I think, the reasons are--without specifying: quality. It shouldn't even be a concern. Quality is the number one, but really about the patient experience. You should come here and feel that we have taken care of you with the best imaging, with the best technologists and care for all of our patients. So, you have a choice and we want you to choose us and we give you the reasons that when you leave here saying, "Wow, that wasn't so bad." I think that's what we do here at Summit Medical Group. We have a wide breadth of experienced radiologists--over 22 different radiologists that specialize in neuro-imaging, body imaging, and mammographers. Their turnaround time is fairly quickly. We dictate those cases in our voice rec system. Those results go to the ordering provider very quickly. So, I think we try to provide the best service possible to our patients.
Melanie: Thank you so much. You're listening to SMG Radio. And for more information, you can go to SummitMedicalGroup.com. That's SummitMedicalGroup.com. This is Melanie Cole. Thanks so much for listening.