Cascade Valley Hospital & Clinics

Imaging Services

Board certified radiologists and registered radiology technologists work together to provide you with a full range of imaging services. These services include:

Our certified radiologists read your film and generate a report for your physician or health care provider. Cardiac echography and cardiac stress tests are read by cardiologists with Western Washington Medical Group in Everett. They also work closely with surgeons and other providers in performing interventional radiology procedures.

Computed Tomography (CT) Scanning
Computed tomography provides cross-sectional images of the body. These give excellent detail of healthy or diseased organs. Common uses include ruling out appendicitis, detecting brain bleeds, diagnosing tumors, and finding aneurysms.

Interventional Radiology
Interventional Radiology is a subspecialty of radiology in which minimally invasive procedures are performed using image guidance. Some of these procedures are done for purely diagnostic purposes. 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.

Mammography
Our mammography department is accredited by the American College of Radiology and inspected by the Federal Drug Administration. Our caring, highly-trained staff are members of the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists.

Mammograms are quick and easy. The technologist will gently compress your breast between two plastic plates to take x-ray images. While the compression may be uncomfortable for a few seconds, it is important in producing a clear picture.

Mammograms can find cancer too small for you or your physician or health care provider to feel. Most insurance companies allow you to have yearly mammograms, as the importance of consistent monitoring has proven effective in saving lives.

To schedule a mammogram at Cascade Valley Hospital please call 360-435-0515.

MRI
Magnetic Resonance Imaging is a technique that uses the natural magnetic properties of your body tissues, and the radio waves that tissues release when they are within a strong magnetic field, to create pictures of the inside of your body.

An MRI procedure is totally painless, completely safe, and has no known side effects.

These images can be produced through any plane and from any angle. They can clearly show your heart, brain, spine, bone marrow, cartilage, and muscle, as well as your blood vessels and how your blood flows.

An MRI exam takes between 30 and 60 minutes. You will need to remove all jewelry and other metal. The table you lie on will then slide into a huge magnet. You will need to lie perfectly still. You will not feel any pain, although you may hear the noise of the magnet, which sounds like a drum. It may also take you a few minutes to get used to being in an enclosed space.

The MRI unit available at Cascade Valley Hospital is a GE 1.5T. It is a state-of-the-art scanner that is twice as fast as other systems, able to accommodate larger patients, and designed to reduce claustrophobia. We provide music CDs for your listening pleasure, or you can bring CDs of your own.

If your physician or health care provider recommends you have an MRI, be sure to remind them if you have a pacemaker or any metallic implants, such as artificial heart valves, joint replacements, bone plates, or similar devices.

Nuclear Medicine
Nuclear Medicine is a medical specialty used to show the function of a body organ, as well as its anatomy; it has diagnostic capabilities as well as valuable therapeutic applications; uses very small amounts of radioactive substances, or tracers that are attracted to specific organs, bones or tissues, to diagnose or treat disease.

Ultrasound
Ultrasound is a diagnostic imaging tool that uses high frequency sound waves to produce pictures of structures within the body. The highly skilled sonographers at Cascade Valley Hospital are registered with the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and work with state-of-the-art equipment to provide the best exams possible for your physician or provider.

Some exams may require simple pre-exam instructions (such as fasting overnight) depending on the area(s) of interest. To start the procedure warm gel is applied to the skin to acquire the specified images. There are no known biological effects and no radiation is produced.

We provide a range of exams to image different parts of the body including obstetric, gynecological, abdominal, soft tissue, vascular and heart ultrasounds in friendly, comfortable surroundings. We are a full service facility offering ultrasound (also called sonograms) to outpatients as well as patients admitted to the hospital and emergency rooms.

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