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 along with neuroradiologists and other members of Danbury Radiology Associates, which has offices on Hospital Avenue in Danbury.

“We felt the Newtown area was underserved for diagnostic imaging 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 imaging needs. The services include diagnostic imaging, an advanced vein treatment center, and a spine treatment center, services typically found only in the hospital setting.

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 nonsurgical 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. An additional service provided at the vein treatment center is the placement of percutaneous venous access (PICC) lines for patients who need repeated intravenous treatment with long-term antibiotics.

“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 the safe, convenient delivery of antibiotics without the hospital stay.”

Newtown Diagnostic Imaging’s spine treatment center 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 and painful compression fractures of the spine,” Dr Welber explained. “It uses fluroscopic guidance or moving x-ray images in order to view what is happening inside the patient while the procedure is being performed.”

“A cement with radio-opaque dye that can be seen with the fluroscope is injected into a fractured vertebral body through a catheter. Eighty to 90 percent of the patients get relief of their symptoms almost immediately,” he said. “Epidural injection is used for treatment of painful arthritis of the back. This is also an image guided radiological procedure we perform at the spine treatment center.”

All of the radiologists that staff the facility are diplomats of the American Board of Radiology and have completed fellowships at programs in facilities accredited 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, if one was interested in getting a closer look at, and measuring, a lesion in the body a magnifying glass and a ruler had to be used. Now with digital imaging on the PACS you can enlarge the image and measure it right on the screen,” Dr Welber said. “Images can be manipulated to better answer a 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 sheets of film with many small images on them, but now the [computer] technology allows us to scroll through the images automatically,” Dr Welber said. “This 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 help 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 physician 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. “Features like the woodwork make it look different than most medical offices. It’s a lovely facility.”

Formerly at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City and on the faculty of the New York University School of Medicine, Dr Welber has lived in Newtown for two years. He and his wife, Laura, have two children, Maya, 3, and Francisco, 1½. Dr Blanco, who came to Newtown from Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, and her husband, Martin, have a daughter, Katherine, 6 ½, and son, Matthew, 3 ½.