e-Newsletter

Wet Reading eNews from Northwest Radiology Associates Vol. 1, No. 1 April 2004

PACS Hits Its Stride Northwest Community Healthcare's PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications System) has been operational since November 2003, and the many benefits of PACS are quickly being realized. PACS images can be viewed simultaneously by multiple users virtually anywhere, and they cannot be lost or misplaced. For the busy clinician, your patients' studies can be reviewed as soon as they are completed, and this can be done at numerous in-hospital workstations as well as off campus. All that you need for offsite access to PACS is a PC with a broadband internet connection. With this capability you can review images at your convenience, be it in your office, at home, or even on your wireless laptop at Starbucks. Furthermore, your patients are now spared the inconvenience of returning to the hospital to sign out films. For more information and training, please call 847.618.4695. Expanded Outpatient Services at Busse Center for Specialty Medicine Coinciding with the implementation of PACS last November, the William J. and Marian H. Busse Center for Specialty Medicine now provides expanded outpatient imaging services within an elegant new facility on the main Northwest Community Hospital campus. In addition to the two 1.5T closed MRI machines already at the main hospital, the Busse Center houses a high field (0.7T) open MRI scanner. This new machine allows large and claustrophobic patients who have difficulty with conventional closed MRI to obtain examinations of substantially higher quality than are produced by most low field open scanners. Outpatient ultrasound and mammography have been completely relocated to the Busse Center, with mammography services now provided at the Comprehensive Breast Center on the second				floor. Planned for fall is the opening of a combined PET-CT scanner. This machine will operate Monday through Friday, and the resulting PET-CT fusion images will be able to more precisely delineate areas of abnormal PET uptake, particularly in the head and neck. Schaumburg Imaging Center Now Open The Schaumburg Imaging Center opened at the end of January 2004. Located within the Northwest Community Hospital Schaumburg Emergency Treatment Center (519 South Roselle Road at Weathersfield Way), this site may be particularly convenient for your patients who live or work in the Schaumburg area. The Schaumburg Imaging Center offers state-of-the-art 16-slice multidetector helical CT, high field (0.7T) open MRI, digital radiography and mammography. The digital examinations are part of Northwest Community's PACS and are interpreted by Northwest radiologists in Arlington Heights. STAT readings are offered, with routine examination reports typically available within 24 hours. The Center is open Monday through Friday, with evening and weekend appointments available upon request. Same-day imaging is available if scheduled before 10 AM. Please call 847.352.1910 for scheduling and other information. For more information about Northwest Radiology Associates and the services we provide, please visit our web site: northwestradiologyassociates.com If you are reading a printed version of this newsletter and wish to receive future editions electronically, please contact: ckalbhen@northwestradiologyassociates.com We also welcome your questions and comments.