Radiology - About Us - Services

The Radiology Department is part of the Division of Assessment and Diagnostics, which includes Pathology, Breast Screening, Out Patients, Audiology, ENT and Endoscopy at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital.

The main department is based at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and is a modern and innovative department encompassing all the main imaging modalities. In addition to the main site we also have 2 satellite facilities where we provide a plain image radiography service. Across all sites we undertake a total of approximately 165,000 examinations per annum.

Interventional X-Ray + Expand - Close

Vascular/Interventional X-Ray

A range of vascular examinations are performed in are vascular suite comprising of; Philips Integris Vascular room, preparation area and patient reception/recovery area.

The vascular team has an active research programme and has had many presentations and publications at national and international level over the last few years.

Ultrasound Department

There is an Ultrasound Services Manager and a Clinical Lead sonographer for Vascular & Trust-Wide Ultrasound, supported by six trained Sonographers who all hold a recognised qualification in medical ultrasound (Diploma in Medical Ultrasound or equivalent) and practice independently as Clinical Specialists / Advanced Practitioners in the Ultrasound Department.

Some of them have further specialist qualifications and advanced training in vascular, musculo-skeletal, obstetric and paediatric hip scanning.

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The Sonographers and Radiologists are responsible for staffing seven ultrasound machines owned by the department within radiology and the antenatal clinic which comprise of:

• Three Philips IU22 systems• Philips ATL HDI 5000• Philips HD3 (mobile)• Toshiba Aplio 80 (ANC)

Toshiba Aplio XG (ANC)

There are four ultrasound rooms sited beneath the main X-ray Department. One of these is mainly staffed by a Radiologist together with radiographic department assistants and the other three by Sonographers who independently report all their scans.

The department supports several rapid access services, including pelvic mass, postmenopausal bleeding, haematuria, musculo-skeletal, neck/thyroid, The sonographers participate and present at various multidisciplinary teaching meetings.

There is a service for ultrasound guided interventions (biopsies, fine needle aspirations and drainages)provided by the Radiologists.

Two obstetric scan rooms remote from the main department in the antenatal clinic are staffed by sonographers from the main department. The sonographers undertake a variety of ultrasound scans covering most aspects of obstetric ultrasound. There are also five further machines in the maternity wing owned by the O&G Department which are used for IVF work, early pregnancy and labour ward. These machines are used by their staff and also by our Sonographers on the Special Care Baby Unit. The sonographers providing the obstetric service participate in the multidisciplinary perinatal mortality meeting.

Vascular Ultrasound Lab

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Vascular Ultrasound Lab

The department has had a full time, comprehensive Vascular Ultrasound Service since 1997. The current ultrasound system is a Philips iu22.

This provides the DVT service (including scanning of the calf veins), carotid, aorto-iliac, upper and lower limb arterial and venous Doppler scans, including detailed varicose vein assessment. Surveillance programs exist for infra-inguinal grafts, aorto-iliac stents and aortic stent grafts alongside the EVAR protocols.

Vascular Sonographers work as integral members of the Vascular Team and present at weekly multidisciplinary team clinical meetings with Vascular Surgery and Stroke Medicine. They have contributed to many publications and presentations as part of the wider vascular team and have held national educational courses at the Queen Elizabeth Site for many years.

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Computed Tomography

Our current scanning suite consists of;

• 16 slice Philips Mx8000IDT • Preparation room • Designated waiting area with toilet and changing facilities. • Reporting area • 3 Workstations

Case-mix

• Brain imaging including professorial stroke unit • Oncology work • Subregional centre for gynaecological oncology • Calman-Hine unit for breast, lung, colorectal large bowel, upper GI, lymphoma • Staging of other cancers including urinary tract and stomach • Active chemotherapy day unit • Vascular • Work-up and follow-up of aortic stent grafts • Trauma • Invasive procedures including drainage and biopsy • General workload of a large DGH • On-call service for emergency CT brain

ResearchOpportunities in oncology and stroke disease

Image from http://www.vetimagesys.com/

M.R.I. + Expand - Close

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital has a purpose-built MRI Scanning Suite, housing a 1.5 Tesla Philips Scanner, which opened on December 8th 2003.

The Scanner was purchased through full capital funding from the NHS National Opportunities Fund.

The Department is a small but busy unit, performing examinations requested by Consultants from in and around the Gateshead NHS Trust.

A wide range of examinations is currently undertaken, which include

• Neurology• Oncology• ENT• Musculoskeletal imaging• Breast• Abdominal imaging, including MRCP• Pelvic imaging• Vascular work

We do not provide an On-Call service at present.

Permanent MRI Staff - Contact us on Ext: 3780 for any enquires regarding MRI, safety and referrals.

• Jo Johnson, (LeadRadiographer)

Other Contact Numbers:

• General Enquiries / Bookings and Reports Ext: 3782 • Scan Control Room Ext: 3780

Departmental documents

• Patients Safety Questionnaire

• MRI Safety Questionnaire: What you (and we) need to know

Equipment

Below is a standard machine that we use for MRI:

General X-Ray + Expand - Close

General X-Ray

The General Radiology department currently consists of:

• 1 Urographic/General Room • 1 DR General Room • 2 Existing General Rooms • 2 Accident/Emergency Rooms (1 DR Room) • Dedicated radiography facilities in A&E Resuscitation Room

Equipment

In A&E, we use DigitalDiagnost, a direct digital radiography system with flat detector technology:

Image from: http://www.healthcare.philips.com/

Nuclear Medicine + Expand - Close

Nuclear Medicine Unit

The Nuclear Medicine Unit is part of the Regional Medical Physics Department

The Regional Medical Physics Department is a Clinical Directorate of Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The Department provides a range of Medical Physics Services in the Northern Region through service level agreements with other trusts.

The Regional Medical Physics Department consists of Units at Newcastle General Hospital, Royal Victoria Infirmary and Freeman Hospital.Newcastle upon Tyne; Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle; South Cleveland Hospital, Middlesbrough; University Hospital of North Durham; and Sunderland Royal Hospital. Sub-units and other staff are located at North Tees General Hospital, Stockton: North Riding Infirmary, Middlesbrough; West Cumberland Hospital, Whitehaven; Memorial Hospital, Darlington; Royal Infirmary, Sunderland; Queen Elizabeth hospital, Gateshead; Prudoe Hospital; and the Medical School, University of Newcastle upon Tyne.

Departmental Documents:

Request for Nuclear Medicine Investigation

The Gateshead sub-unit comprises a Radiopharmacy, collation/laboratory room, Dedicated Heart Stress Room and Gamma Camera Room

The unit can provide a wide range of Imaging investigations via a dual headed Philips ‘Axis’ gamma camera as well as non-imaging tests such as Glomerular Filtration Rate (GFR) measurements and therapeutic procedures e.g. I131 thyroid therapy capsules.

The unit is currently staffed by four technologists a consultant medical physicist and senior medical physicist.

If you want to know more about the Nuclear Medicine Unit or medical physics in general, go to our links page.

Radiopharmacy

The radioactive injections (radiopharmaceuticals) used to give the nuclear medicine images must be produced in a special clean room. This room is called the Radiopharmacy and is constructed similar to an operating theatre with easily cleaned smooth surfaces and a filtered air supply which traps all air-borne bacteria and particles

The Gateshead Medical Physics Unit has its own radiopharmacy from which supplies the radioipharmaceuticals for local use.

The radiopharmacy consists of a changing/step-over area and the actual clean room. There are two laminar flow cabinets within the clean room, one contains the Tc-99m generator, the other is used for the actual production of the radiopharmaceuticals.

Once manufactured, the individual doses are dispensed and measured on the workbench and then passed through a hatch into the collation room for checking and releasing.

All radiopharmaceuticals need to be checked before releasing to be given to the patient.

The syringe must be checked to ensure that the correct patient details label is attached and that the dose is within the acceptable limits (+- 10%).

The radiopharmaceutical kit must also be checked to ensure that it is not out of date and is the correct compound for the procedure. All these checks must be carried out by someone other than the person who manufactured the doses.

Stress Room

The largest part of the nuclear medicine workload in the Gateshead Medical Physics Unit is myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).

This test usually requires the patient to be chemically stressed before the administration of the radiopharmaceutical and subsequent imaging. Adenosine and Dobutamine are the two stressing agents used for this purpose. The patients E.C.G. trace, oxygen saturation levels and blood pressure are all monitored during the infusion of the drug.

A specially fitted stress room is used for this purpose; the room contains a heart monitor and automatic B.P. machine and an Oxygen saturation monitor. The room is fitted with an oxygen supply and suction, a crash trolley and de-fib are placed outside the room.

Gamma Camera Room

The Medical Physics Unit contains one dual head Picker Axis Gamma Camera which can be used to image all routine modes of acquisition :

• Static images • Static Whole-body • Multi segment dynamic studies • Multi Gated Acquisitions (MUGA) • SPECT • Gated SPECT.

The gamma camera is connected to a dedicated UNIX ‘Odyssey’ computer system for all analysis and display of images, all reporting is done direct from computer screen. Note: The current Odyssey computer system is being upgraded to a LINUX 'Odyssey LX' system, offering improved and quicker data analysis.

Picker Axis gamma camera performing a SPECT acquisition.

Image archive is via DICOM transfer onto a P.C. running ‘Radworks, all image data is backed up daily onto the hospital image store.

Pre Assessment + Expand - Close

Pre Assessment

The qualified nursing team in Radiology provide a pre assessment service to all patients who require the following examinations: Angiogram, arterial stenting, Angioplasty, Arthrograms, Barium Enema, Barium Swallow, CT Scan, Evacuating Proctogram, Intravenous Urogram, Liver Biopsy and MRI scan.

The pre assessment nurses are available to provide both written and verbal advice about the procedures undertaken in radiology and can be contacted on extension 3260.

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