Radiology

Who we are

The Department of Radiology provides a full range of imaging services for newborns, infants, children, teenagers, young adults and pregnant women at Boston Children's Hospital and our satellite clinics in Lexington, Peabody, Weymouth and Waltham. Our experienced team carries out more than 200,000 imaging studies each year, using the latest equipment and techniques specially designed or adapted for use with children.

Why pediatric radiology?

When your child needs an imaging study or procedure, you and your physician want to know that you are choosing the right test at the right time, and going to the right place.

Imaging children is challenging. Children can have a hard time holding still for an x-ray, or may be frightened by the noise of an MRI. Their smaller, growing bodies both are more sensitive to the radiation of an x-ray or CT scan and need a smaller dose of radiation in order to obtain a high quality image.

We work together with you, your child and your referring doctor to make your child's experience as safe and pleasant as possible while obtaining the best possible and most appropriate images for an accurate diagnosis.

OUR EXPERTISE

• Kids! Our imaginative décor, knowledgeable staff and dedicated child life specialists help make your child's experience as enjoyable as possible. Learn more

• Safety: Some types of imaging studies require the use of radiation. For these exams, we rely on "Image Gently" guidelines and use equipment and techniques adapted to give only "child sized" doses for x-rays, CT scans and nuclear medicine studies. Learn more

• Pediatric sedation and anesthesia: Our skilled staff helps young children stay calm and still for imaging studies using age-appropriate distraction techniques that include video goggles, music and lighting. If your child does need sedation or anesthesia for his or her scan, it will be administered by a team of sedation nurse practitioners, nurses and anesthesiologists experienced in pediatric care.

• Organ-based interpretation: Our unique approach to pediatric radiology means that a radiologist who has specialized training in the disease or organ system being studied will review and interpret your child's images. Learn more

Our team includes pediatric radiologists, neuroradiologists and interventional radiologists—all of whom have received additional training in childhood anatomy and diseases—as well as nuclear medicine physicians, nurse practitioners, technologists, nurses and child life specialists, all experienced in helping and caring for children.