State-Of-The-Art Diagnostic Imaging Center Opens In Newtown

By Kaaren Valenta

One of the most sophisticated, advanced diagnostic imaging centers in the state opened its doors in Newtown recently at 53 South Main Street in the SCB Office Park.

Dr Adam Welber and Dr Barbara Blanco, both Newtown residents, are staffing Newtown Diagnostic Imaging, LLC, along with neuroradiologists and other members of Danbury Radiology Associates, which has offices on Hospital Avenue in Danbury and in Putnam, N.Y.

“We felt the Newtown area was somewhat underserved and that this would be an excellent location,” Dr Welber said.

Within its 5,000 square feet, the new imaging center contains a complete range of diagnostic testing equipment that will make it a one-stop facility for all of a patient’s testing needs. The services include diagnostic imaging, an advanced vein treatment center, and a spine treatment center, services typically found only in hospital settings.

The diagnostic imaging services include high field MRI, spiral CT scan, ultrasound, and all types of general x-rays. The 1.5 Tesla MRI made by General Electric is used in neurological, musculoskeletal, and body/chest imaging. 

The vein treatment center offers a non-surgical laser procedure, VenaCure, for the treatment of painful and unsightly varicose veins, as well as sclerotherapy, a procedure in which varicose veins are injected with a solution that causes them to collapse and fade from view.

The vein center also is a site where percutaneous venous access (PICC) lines can be placed in patients who need repeated intravenous treatment with long-term antibiotics and chemotherapy.

“A patient who has osteomylitis of the foot, for example, used to need a hospital stay to get treatment once or twice a day,” Dr Welber explained. “But with the PICC line, there is a way for a safe, convenient delivery of the antibiotics without the hospital stay.”

Newtown Diagnostic Imaging’s spine treatment center, with a floating table, provides such services as epidural spinal injection for the treatment of back pain; facet blocks for treatment of painful arthritis; and Vertebroplasty for the treatment of painful vertebral compression fractures.

“Vertebroplasty is an image-guided procedure that is typically used for patients with osteoporosis,” Dr Welber explained. “It’s an x-ray photo but a moving picture so we can see what is happening while it is being done.”

“A cement with radio-opaque dye is injected with a catheter. Eighty to 90 percent of the patients get relief of their symptoms almost immediately,” he said. “Epidural injection also is used for treatment of painful arthritis of the back.”

All of the radiologists that staff the facility are diplomats of the American Board of Radiology and have completed fellowships at programs certified by the American College of Radiology, Dr Welber said. 

All of the different imaging modalities feed into a PACS system that is the nerve center of the facility.

“In the old days, you would look closer at the computer screen to see the area you were studying, but now you can enlarge the image and measure it right on the screen,” Dr Welber said. “Images can be manipulated to better answer any diagnostic question your referring physician might have.”

CT scans provide computerized axial tomography, which provides cross-sectional images of the body.

“It used to be we worked with a sheet of film or one small image after another, but now the [computer] technology allows us to scroll through the images automatically,” Dr Welber said. “It increases the detection of small lung nodules, for example. The ability to have PACS in this outpatient setting is very advantageous.”

Consultations for the vein treatment center and the spine treatment center can be made by calling the center directly at 426-3002. The only services not offered at the center are barium studies and mammograms, although Dr Blanco does mammography at Danbury Hospital.

The center was built in a U-shape, with a large reception area, dressing rooms, toilets, and offices located in the center portion of the U and surrounded by the special testing areas and equipment. The radiology and CAT scan testing rooms have lead liners in all walls; the walls and ceiling of the MRI room were shielded in copper to maintain a homogeneous magnetic field.

The center also has a staff lounge; central file room; and consultation, administrative and technician’s offices.

In addition, there is another 3,000 square feet of unused space that will provide room for expansion or to house other physicians’ or physical therapy offices. The space has floor-to-ceiling windows and outside access.

 The architect for the new center was the Mitchell Architectural Group, PC of Newtown. It was constructed by Hawley Construction Corporation, the building division of The Hawley Companies, the Danbury-based real estate, development, and construction organization.

“Hawley Construction did a fabulous job,” Dr Welber said. “They started with a big open space and built it from scratch, but features like the woodwork make it look different than most medical offices. It’s a lovely facility.”

Formerly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital in New York City, Dr Welber has lived in Newtown for two years. He and his wife, Laura, have two children, Maya, 3, and Frank, 1½.  Dr Blanco, who came to Newtown from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and her husband, Martin, have a daughter, Katherine, 6½, and son, Matthew, 3½.