Why we image in our own lab
Ultrasound answers most of the questions we need answered, and it answers them without contrast dye and without radiation. That matters more here than at most practices: a large share of the people we care for have chronic kidney disease, and many will need dye again in the procedure room. We would rather not spend it on a diagnostic scan.
Running the lab ourselves also collapses the timeline. Your study is scheduled here rather than at an outside facility, the physician who will treat you reads the study, and the plan is made the same day rather than three appointments from now.
Ultrasound is not the answer to every question. When finer anatomic detail is needed, or when a study is inconclusive, we order CT or MR angiography. How we choose an imaging test →
The six studies
Ultrasound of the heart’s structure and pumping function — all four valves and all four chambers, in motion.
Screening the arteries of the neck for the narrowing and plaque that raise stroke risk.
Arterial (vascular) ultrasound
Mapping circulation in the legs and arms — aortoiliac through the pedal arteries, including pedal acceleration time.
Checking the arteries of the kidney for narrowing or blockage behind hard-to-control blood pressure.
Checking the infrarenal abdominal aorta for an aneurysm — a five-minute study for a condition that is usually silent.
Checking the veins for clots and for reflux — the leaking valves behind swelling, varicose veins, and skin damage.
What every study has in common
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No radiation, no dye, no needles. Ultrasound uses sound waves. There is nothing to recover from.
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Read by the physician who will treat you. Not sent out, not read a week later by someone who will never meet you.
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Registered vascular technologists. A complete study is not a quick test — it depends on unhurried scanning by an experienced technologist, and we staff for that.
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Scheduled before you leave. When your first visit shows a blockage is likely, your arterial ultrasound, your procedure (an angiogram), and your follow-up visit are each scheduled before you leave. Each is its own appointment; our staff obtains insurance authorization in the background, and threatened limbs move to the front of the schedule.
For referring providers — Our vascular lab is open to referral for any of the six studies below, with or without a consultation. Results are read by the treating physician and returned same day when the study is urgent. Refer: (918) 943-5303 · fax (855) 312-3594.
Refer urgently: a suspected DVT or a symptomatic carotid stenosis · Routinely: routine AAA screening, claudication workup, hard-to-control hypertension, or a non-healing wound. Full referral guide →