Radiology

Public Service

What is Radiology?  Radiological procedures are used for looking at the internal structures of the body, whether bone or soft tissue. Usually these examinations are carried out to:

• diagnose disease states, such as cancer or heart disease
• show if there is injury to body structures
• provide images of organs to help other specialists repair problems e.g. angiography of the heart.

  The radiologist may use different methods such as X-ray, Computer Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Ultrasound as well as some other specialised types of radiological imaging.   The Team

• Medical Imaging Technologists (MITs) - formerly known as Medical Radiation Technologists (MRTs) or Radiographers perform your X-ray, MRI, CT, barium and mammography examinations.
• Sonographers are MITs who perform your ultrasound examinations.
• Radiologists are specialist doctors who read and understand your films. They will also be involved if you have an intravenous urogram (IVU), X-ray, MRI, CT, barium study, mammogram and a number of other ultrasound procedures. They interpret the results of the images and send them to your doctor.

How Safe is Radiology?
Some forms of radiology use sound waves, some use x-rays and some use magnetic fields. Nuclear medicine uses small amounts of radioactive material injected into the body to help with patient diagnosis.

The sound waves (ultrasound) and the magnetic fields (MRI scan), as far as we know, have no harmful side effects. X-rays and Nuclear Medicine use what is known as ionising radiation. Large single ionising radiation doses that are much greater than those used in medical diagnosis, are known to carry a risk of causing cancer. At the radiation dose levels used in medicine it is unclear what, if any increase in cancer risk exists. We are obliged by law to make sure we only use ionising radiation when we think the potential benefits to you are greater than the risks. We carefully select the lowest dose procedure to provide you and your doctor with the diagnostic information needed to best manage your health. If you wish to find out more about the radiation risks of different radiology procedures please click here.

Hours

The best times to visit are 07:30-09:30 and 14:30-16:30 as these are the least busy hours at GCC.

Contact

Greenlane Clinical Centre

Street address

214 Green Lane West
Epsom
Auckland 1051

Postal address

Private Bag 92 189 Auckland Mail Centre Auckland 1142

Phone: (09) 367 0000

Starship Child Health, Central Auckland

Street address

2 Park Road
Grafton
Auckland 1023

Postal address

Starship Child Health Private Bag 92 024 Auckland Mail Centre Auckland 1142 New Zealand

Phone: (09) 307 4949

Auckland City Hospital

Street address

2 Park Road
Grafton
Auckland 1023

Postal address

Private Bag 92 024 Auckland Mail Centre Auckland 1142

Phone: (09) 367 0000

The information on this page has been provided by healthpoint.co.nz, helping people better understand and use New Zealand health services.