Committed to providing diagnostic support through quality pediatric imaging and family-centered service

A pediatric radiologist is a physician specialist who looks at X-rays, ultrasounds, CT scans, and other pictures of children’s bones and tissues to identify problems that may be causing a medical condition.

Usually, your child’s pediatrician or another medical specialist will order the test. The radiologist will review images from these diagnostic tests and then prepare a report about the results for your child’s doctor. This is one of the tools that will allow your primary care doctor or specialist to create a treatment plan for your child.

Although we often think of X-rays and bones, new technologies allow radiologists to look at other tissues and structures in the body. Pediatric radiologists are specially trained to recognize the diseases and conditions more likely to affect children.

Pediatric radiologist services

Pediatric radiologists use computers and other tools to make diagnostic images of the human body. The kind of equipment will depend on the particular of the study:

X-ray

X-ray uses small amounts of radiation to take a picture of bodily structures, such as your child’s bones. A radiologist will use this procedure if your child has a suspected broken bone.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound uses sound waves to make an image of your child’s organs or tissues. Although ultrasounds are usually associated with pregnancy, they are an excellent way for radiologists to look at your child’s organs, like their kidneys.

Computer tomography (CT) scan

A CT scan uses X-rays to take a picture of your child’s bones and tissues. These scans can be used with injected and drinkable dyes to pinpoint abnormalities in specific organs.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Like a CT scan, an MRI scan makes images of portions of your child’s body. But instead of using X-ray radiation, an MRI uses large and strong magnets. Radiologists use MRIs to look at organs such as the brain, muscles, bone, and internal organs.

Nuclear medicine

Nuclear medicine studies use typically injected radiopharmaceuticals that tend to concentrate on specific organs. A special camera then makes diagnostic images. Different organs, such as the thyroid gland or bones, can be emphasized.

Advanced Flash CT scanner takes images in seconds

Thanks to a $2 million donation from the King's Daughters Foundation, Baylor Scott & White McLane Children's acquired the Siemens SOMATOM® High Definition Flash CT system. Scott & White is the third healthcare provider in the United States to offer its young patients the advanced Flash CT scanner.

The Flash CT system produces images at more than twice the speed of other imaging equipment. Older devices could take five to 10 seconds to perform a chest exam. Now, we can scan the entire torso in under a second.

This is excellent news for children and anxious parents. The imaging technology is highly beneficial for patients, especially younger children who don't understand the procedure and often cannot hold still for even 10 seconds. Standard CT scanners would also need to be immobilized or sedated. The Flash CT eliminates those concerns.

The technology uses advanced reconstruction methods to produce three-dimensional images. It has the required images faster while reducing the amount of radiation absorbed by the body to one-eighth of the radiation dose used by standard scanners.

Siemens SOMATOM® High Definition Flash CT system