Imaging Center

We've made it easier to see you. In more ways than one.

• Short Wait Times
• Easy-To-Reach Location
• Accurate Data For Precise Diagnostics

Seeing more than meets the eye is the goal of imaging services at Gadsden Regional Medical Center (GRMC). Whether it’s an ultrasound, X-ray or mammogram, taking a picture of what’s happening inside your body can help physicians reach the proper diagnosis and prescribe the appropriate treatment.

Beginning October 8, 2011, the Imaging Center at GRMC will offer Saturday mammogram appointments. Call 256-492-0337 for more information!

With care and compassion, the medical staff of our imaging services delivers comprehensive diagnostic testing and screening services with these tools:

• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) uses a magnetic field and radio waves to create cross-sectional images of your head, body, muscles and blood flow. GRMC now offers open bore MRI. Click here to learn more.
   
• 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.
   
• Digital mammography uses computers and specially designed digital detectors to produce an image that can be displayed on a high-resolution computer monitor, and transmitted and stored just like computer files. Click here to learn more.
    
• 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.
   
• Computerized 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. GRMC uses the GE 64 Slice CT with CTA.
   
• Interventional Radiography (Special Procedures) 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.
   
• Bone densitometry measures the density of the spine, hip and other bones—the most frequent sites of fracture—and compares it to an established norm to produce a score. This number helps your physician determine your risk of developing osteoporosis. A bone density test is a relatively simple, quick and painless way to determine your bone health.
   
• Radiography and fluoroscopy view bones and help physicians examine the chest. Using both radiography and fluoroscopy procedures allows physicians to confidently diagnose conditions in the chest, spine, bone, digestive tract, uterus and bladder. With the added benefit of fluoroscopy capability, physicians have the ability to study flow or motion in patients when necessary. Similar to an X-ray “movie,” fluoroscopy can include imaging of dynamic processes such as throat abnormalities.

If you need a bone density test, X-ray, CT scan, ultrasound, MRI, nuclear medicine test or mammogram, you can feel confident in GRMC’s technology and the extensively trained team.

Early detection is key!

When it comes to disease, early diagnosis is key to effective treatment. If you need advanced imaging, you can get it close to home at GRMC. To see how our imaging services can help you, call 256-494-4036.