Diagnostic Imaging

Holy Family's diagnostic imaging services offers the area's most comprehensive range of state-of-the-art imaging modalities to evaluate and provide information on a variety of illnesses and conditions.

Scheduled, emergency, interventional and routine diagnostic imaging services are provided for inpatients and outpatients, including mammography, gastrointestinal, gynecological, general X-ray, bone densitometry and more.

Two Convenient Locations MRI Services Available Seven Days a Week 

Holy Family Hospital offers a full range of cutting-edge MRI technologies – including an open MRI – to meet every patient’s needs, seven days a week:

• 3.0 Tesla unit in the MRI building at Holy Family Hospital
• 1.5 Tesla unit in the Radiology/MRI suite at Holy Family Hospital (ground floor)
• 0.7 Tesla Open MRI unit in the MRI building at Holy Family Hospital
• 1.5 Tesla unit at 29 Stiles Road in Salem, NH

Our two convenient locations provide individuals from the greater Merrimack Valley and southern New Hampshire with access to the finest combination of competent, experienced staff and state-of-the-art MRI equipment.

Locations

Holy Family Hospital, 70 East Street, Methuen, Mass.
Holy Family Hospital MRI Services in Salem, 29 Stiles Rd., Salem, NH

Appointments and Referrals

Monday through Friday: 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Please call central scheduling at 978-722-3800, option #1.

Additional Diagnostic Services and Technologies at Holy Family Hospital include: 

• New "GE Lightspeed" 64-Slice Computerized Tomography (CT) Scanning: a computer-assisted X-ray technique that visualizes parts of the body, giving three-dimensional information that is especially useful in the identification and evaluation of space-occupying lesions.  
• Diagnostic Cardiology: provides a variety of procedures such as EKGs, echocardiograms, stress tests, Holter monitoring, event monitoring, pacer checks and tilt table evaluations to evaluate cardiac conditions.  
• Diagnostic Radiology (X-Ray): X-Ray examinations are often done in an overall evaluation of the sick and injured. Many times, they are a "standard" study performed for a variety of reasons such as X-rays of bones to detect bone fractures, or a chest X-ray for pneumonia.  
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI): creates images of the body by producing a radio signal within the body that can be detected and processed on a computer. It provides excellent imaging of the soft tissues of the nervous system and herniated intervertebral discs. MRI is a reasonable alternative to arthrography of the knee and shoulder, providing images without surgical invasion and in a relatively short period of time. MRI imaging complements X-ray images because MRI can distinguish soft tissue in both normal and diseased states.  
• Mammography: a routine radiographic procedure that utilizes special equipment and X-ray film to diagnose breast lesions with a low dose of radiation to the patient. Dedicated mammography services, including computer-aided detection (CAD) to identify potential areas of concern, are provided in the hospital's Robert F. Stoico/FIRSTFED Center for Breast Care.  
• Nuclear medicine: utilizes radiopharmaceuticals to generate images of many structures within the body including the heart, lungs, liver, thyroid gland, bones and kidneys. Abnormal tissues are demonstrated when the radiopharmaceutical administered to the patient creates an image that appears different than normal tissue upon imaging.  
• PET-CT Imaging: combines today’s most advanced Positron Emission Tomography (PET) with the fastest and most sophisticated CT technology. PET creates images of metabolic activity in the body. CT scans create images of anatomical structures within the human body. Together, a PET-CT scan allows physicians to view metabolic activity and pinpoint where cancers are located so that they may target the disease. PET-CT is especially valuable in detecting or assessing certain cancers, heart conditions and neurological problems.
  New England PET Imaging at Holy Family Hospital
  Hours: Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  For appointments: 978-689-4738
  Click here for a copy of the About Your PET/CT brochure.  
• Ultrasound: sometimes also referred to as "echo," ultrasound uses high frequency sound waves to produce echoes within the body. The strength and timing of the echoes returning to the send point, or transducer, are analyzed by a computer to produce a graphic image of the area of interest such as a gallbladder, veins, arteries, breast, thyroid gland, liver, kidneys, ovaries and the heart.