Diagnostic Imaging Services
Rio Grande Regional Hospital in McAllen, TX, offers a complete range of imaging services and tests. Our radiology department offers world-class medicine you can trust for everything from X-rays to mammograms, ultrasound, nuclear medicine and more.
Spend Less Time Waiting
Rio Grande Regional Hospital offers online hospital pre-registration for common outpatient procedures. If you’ve already scheduled your imaging test, pre-register to reduce your waiting time at the hospital. If you register at least 48 hours in advance, we can contact your insurance healthcare provider for any needed pre-authorization.
When you get to the hospital, check in at the registration desk and let them know you are pre-registered. It’s that simple.
Types of Imaging Services
Rio Grande Regional Hospital offers a full range of imaging services.
An X-ray is produced when a small amount of radiation passes through your body and is captured on film. Fluoroscopy is an advanced imaging test, which shows a continuous X-ray image on a computer monitor.
Our board-certified radiologists provide supervision and guidance during the diagnostic and fluoroscopy procedures performed by our nationally registered technologists. This testing method is used to check for a variety of concerns from broken bones to pneumonia or even breast cancer. It is also used for bone density testing.
Read about our Radiation Right safety protocols to ensure the Right Exam, Right Site, Right Dose for each patient.
A CT scan, or CAT scan, stands for computed axial tomography scan. CAT scans are a series of X-rays taken from many different angles around the body and then put together on a computer screen to create a 3D image of the area being tested.
The imaging part of the test usually takes 15 minutes or less. However, the preparation can take a bit longer. If your physician ordered a CAT scan with contrast, the contrast solution might be taken orally or given through an intravenous (IV) injection.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
Our radiology department uses the highest quality MRI diagnostic equipment. This technology helps lessen the time spent in the MRI chamber, which is helpful for people who have anxiety in enclosed spaces (claustrophobia).
MRI uses a magnet linked to a computer to create detailed pictures of areas inside the body including:
- Musculoskeletal—used in spinal imaging, soft tissue tumors, joint disease
- Central nervous system—used to diagnose dementia, epilepsy, cerebrovascular disease
- Gastrointestinal—liver lesions, small bowel tumors, inflammatory bowel disease
- Cardiovascular—complements other imaging tests such as CAT scan, echocardiography (ECHO) or nuclear medicine
Ultrasound is a test that bounces high-frequency sound waves off tissue and organs and translates the sound waves into sonograms (pictures) without the need to use radiation. Ultrasound is used to visualize the internal structures of the body. Types of ultrasound include:
- Cardiac to view the heart
- Breast to view areas that are otherwise difficult to study with a mammogram
- Ophthalmic to view structures in the eye
- Fetal to view development of the baby during pregnancy
- Abdominal to view structures in the upper abdomen including the liver, spleen, gallbladder and kidneys
Nuclear medicine uses tiny amounts of radioactive materials to capture images of how substances are moving through the bloodstream, organs, bones or tissues. The patient takes a “tracer” (either injected, swallowed or inhaled) and then images are taken as that tracer moves through the body. Different tracers are used to test different body areas and the test results can provide details on how body systems are functioning.
Nuclear medicine may use X-rays, MRI or CAT scans to capture images and can aid in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart problems and gastrointestinal or neurological disorders.
Rio Grande Regional Hospital offers comprehensive routine and diagnostic services to women of all ages in a setting that is warm and supportive. These services include softer mammography, stereotactic breast biopsy, breast ultrasound and bone density testing.
One in eight American women will develop breast cancer in her lifetime. Regular mammograms are our best weapon to screen for breast cancer, and diagnose breast cancer early. At Rio Grande Regional Hospital, we strive to make mammograms as comfortable and pleasant as possible. That’s why we use the MammoPad, a soft foam pad that provides a cushion between you and the mammography machine for a more comfortable test.
Its our goal to change the way women feel about mammography so that fear of discomfort won’t keep women from seeking these valuable screening exams.
Interventional radiology (IR) uses a combination of imaging and minimally invasive surgery to diagnose and treat a variety of medical conditions.
Narrow catheters and other small instruments are guided through blood vessels and other body sites to take tissue samples, deliver treatments or perform other interventions, without the need for an open-surgery. This means patients can receive needed treatments with less pain (much smaller incisions) and, usually, shorter recovery time.
Interventional radiology procedures performed at Rio Grande Regional Hospital include:
- Balloon angioplasty and stenting
- Electrophysiology studies (EP studies)
- Catheter-directed thrombolysis (breaking up a blood clot)
- Various treatments to block blood flow to tumors or damage cancer tissue