Medical Imaging (also known as Radiology)

We know kids inside and out

Children’s Minnesota remains one of the largest pediatric Medical Imaging practices in the Upper Midwest. With three full-service imaging locations open and operational, we performed 109,673 procedures in 2022, overall a 4.0% increase from 2021.

Medical Imaging serves patients from fetus to young adults in inpatient, outpatient and ED settings. The hospital locations provide imaging services 24 hours per day, seven days a week. Services provided include: General X-Ray, Fluoroscopy, Ultrasound, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, Interventional Radiology and Cardiovascular Imaging. In addition, St. Paul provides DEXA services on-site. Sedation services are also available within the department and provided by members of the department of Anesthesia.

Patients are served by board-certified pediatric radiologists, all of whom participate in the American Board of Radiology Certificate of Added Qualification (CAQ) and Maintenance of Certification (MOC) programs for pediatric radiology. Children’s Radiologists support all campuses and provide interpretations for several owned and aligned clinics as well as other outreach sites.

Children’s Medical Imaging staff includes Radiologic Technologists registered and certified by the American Registry of Radiologic Technologists and include staff who have completed accreditations to specialize in Computed Tomography (CT), Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), and Interventional Radiology (IR). Children’s Medical Imaging also includes Ultrasound Technologists certified by the American Registry of Diagnostic Medical Sonographers and Nuclear Medicine Technologists certified by the Nuclear Medicine Technology Certification Board.

Tests don’t have to be tough

From friendly décor to kid-sized radiation doses, Children’s radiology and diagnostics team strives to make testing a breeze for patients and families. Here’s how:

• The less, the better. Kids aren’t just pint-sized adults. Kids are more sensitive to radiation than adults. That’s why Children’s team works hard to keep radiation doses as low as possible during imaging tests without compromising the image quality that’s important to make a correct diagnosis. We follow the Image Gently guidelines established in 2008 by the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging and base our dosing on each child’s age and size.
• Radiologists with the right stuff. While some conditions are the same in adult and pediatric patients, many conditions are specific to kids. That’s why all test images are interpreted by our board-certified pediatric radiologists, who have specialized training in diagnosing kids and teens.
• Drift to dreamland. While most tests are painless and easy, some require kids to stay still for long periods of time and may call for sedation. Children’s specially trained sedation team carefully evaluates each child to identify the type of sedation that will be best. During a sedated test, a child is closely monitored by our expert staff using advanced equipment.
• The right environment. Children’s environment is specifically designed to help kids feel relaxed during radiology tests. MRI-safe video goggles are a hit with our teenage patients, while kids of all ages enjoy movies ranging from cartoons to teen flicks. Staff members even wear colorful, fun uniforms to help children feel at ease.

At Children’s, our goal is to provide the best possible radiology care in the most compassionate way we can. Whether your child needs a nurse to hold her hand before a CT scan or you need a radiologist to explain how an MRI works, our team is at the ready to help you prepare for testing and answer any questions. We offer visionary care that helps you see things clearly, too.