At The Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital (BBCH), we provide comprehensive and specialized imaging services just for infants and children in a safe and friendly environment with an understanding of how to manage children’s fears and anxiety compassionately.
Program Highlights
- We offer Maine's largest and most comprehensive team of Board certified, fellowship trained specialists in the diagnostic imaging of children
- Warm and compassionate nurses and technologists specially trained in the care of children and with years of pediatric experience – ensuring high-quality care
- Access to the full range of today’s most advanced diagnostic imaging technology with special equipment tailored to children’s developing bodies
- The expertise to carefully tailor imaging tests to the special needs of children, particular when it comes to minimizing radiation exposure
- Open communication with parents that informs and empowers
- A team of pediatric radiologists actively involved in teaching and clinical research keeping them on the leading edge of their field – ensuring that your child benefits from the most current knowledge and the latest diagnostic imaging advances
Conditions, Diagnosis & Treatment
Learn more about conditions we treat, diagnosis and treatment options we offer.
Pediatric radiologists are involved in diagnosing the full range of illnesses and injuries affecting children, such as disorders of the abdomen, chest, head, extremities and spine, including congenital or genetic abnormalities.
Imaging procedures can rule out diseases, diagnose conditions and help your child’s doctor make the most effective treatment decisions. Your child’s doctor and the pediatric radiologists can determine which method or combination of methods will be most appropriate and effective in diagnosing your child's problem. We perform imaging for pre-surgical planning as well as image-guided biopsies and other procedures. The imaging services available at BBCH include:
- X-ray — Takes images of bones, lungs and some other organs
- Computerized tomography (CT) — Uses x-rays from different directions to create 2-D and 3-D images of internal organs such as lungs, liver and kidneys
- Fluoroscopy — Uses short pulses of radiation to produce a moving picture of a body system such as the gastrointestinal or urinary tract
- Ultrasound — Uses sound waves to create images of internal organs
- Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) — Uses magnetic and radio waves to produce clear pictures of soft tissue such as the brain and other organs
- Nuclear medicine — Uses radioactive isotopes to see how an organ is functioning or determine the extent of a tumor
- Positron emission tomography (PET) imaging — A type of nuclear medicine examination that enables evaluation of the metabolic activity of various organs and tumors