We offer all routine CT scans that are essential in the diagnosis and management of diseases as diverse as urinary stones, appendicitis, and, importantly, cancer.
Penn Radiology performs innovative CT studies that assess the organs of the abdomen and pelvis for specific conditions including:
- CT Enterography – provides a detailed assessment of the bowel for inflammatory bowel disease.
- CT Colonography – is a test that can uncover silent colon cancers in only several minutes, without requiring sedation.
- Dual Energy CT Scanning – is a technique that can be used to characterize materials in the body such as fat and bone, and determine whether a structure is picking up iodine from IV contrast, which can be a sign of a tumor.
We also perform biopsies of structures within the abdomen and pelvis, using our new state-of-the-art CT procedure room, which includes CT fluoroscopy and 3-D localization, to pinpoint abnormalities in the shortest time with the least patient discomfort.
The quality of our routine CT studies is ever-improving, with faster speed to perform the exam and send images for reading, higher degree of detail on the images, and decreasing radiation doses.
State-Of-The-Art Imaging Equipment
Our state of the art scanners provide tailored scanning settings for every patient. This improves the accuracy of our scanning and provides bettering imaging to detect and diagnose abnormalities. Proper scanning technique is especially important for the abdomen and pelvis, a part of the body that contains “moving parts” (that is, the bowel) and can vary tremendously in thickness from patient to patient.
Our department has leading-edge equipment and technology, ensuring all of our CT scanners can produce the highest quality medical images while minimizing radiation dose- for all of our patients.
Our CT scanners include:
- Siemens Somatom Force (Perelman)
- Siemens Definition AS40 (Perelman)
- Siemens Definition AS+ 128 (Perelman)
- Siemens Definition Flash (HUP)
- Siemens Siemens Definition AS+ 128 (IR room) (HUP)
- Siemens Definition Edge (HUP ED)
- Siemens Siemens Definition AS+128 (Radnor)
- GE Revolution (PPMC)
- GE 750GSI (PPMC)
- GE Medical VCT64 (Valley Forge)
Our processing and viewing equipment includes:
- TeraRecon Thin Client access at each reading station
- GE Advantage Windows workstation with advanced vessel analysis and volume rendering software
- Siemens SyngoVia thin client
- Vital Images Vitrea 2 workstation
- Dedicated 3D Imaging Laboratory, equipped with Siemens MMWP, GE Advantage, Vital Images Vitrea, TeraRecon, and Osirix workstations
- High-resolution 2- and 4-monitor PACS workstations
ACR Accreditation
We are accredited by the American College of Radiology (ACR), the national accrediting body for radiology and its sub-specialties.
The ACR gold seal of accreditation represents the highest level of image quality and patient safety. It is awarded only to facilities meeting ACR Practice Guidelines and Technical Standards after a peer-review evaluation by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. Image quality, personnel qualifications, adequacy of facility equipment, quality control procedures, and quality assurance programs are assessed. The findings are reported to the ACR Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report they can use for continuous practice improvement.