The radiology team - What we do

The Pat Seed department houses 3 CT (Computed Tomography) scanners (one of which is used primarily for the purpose of radiotherapy planning). CT uses X-rays to produce high quality images or virtual ‘slices’ through the body to provide important diagnostic information before, during and after treatment.

Around 18,000 CT scans are performed each year, including CT biopsies and CT colonography.

When you come for a CT scan at The Christie, you might also have a CT contrast/dye injection. This is to help highlight the area of interest on your CT scan.

CT scanning - Tel: 0161 446 3884

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) is a type of scan that uses strong magnetic fields and radio waves to produce detailed images of the inside of the body. While MRI is considered very safe, certain patients may not be able to undergo MRI, for example if they have some kinds of metallic implants or devices. Information on this is required within the referral from the patient's consultant/doctor.

When you come for an MRI scan at The Christie, you might also have a MRI contrast/dye injection. This is to help highlight the area of interest on your MRI scan.

MR scanning - Tel:  0161 918 2525

Around 17,000 examinations are performed each year. Outpatient X-ray examinations are performed with ‘Radiology 1’ which is adjacent to the Main Outpatients department.

Radiology 1 Tel: 0161 446 3320

Inpatient X-rays are performed within ‘Radiology 2’ or on the wards with mobile X-ray machines.

Radiology 2 Tel: 0161 446 3322

Around 3,600 examinations are performed each year, including interventional procedures such as ultrasound-guided biopsies. The ultrasound department is situated with Radiology 2 (Department 34).

Ultrasound - Tel: 0161 446 3322

Around 2,400 procedures performed each year in interventional radiology, including gastrostomies. nephrostomies, angiography, stents and biopsies. In November 2014, Christie Radiology expanded the service as it became a regional centre for Selective internal Radiotherapy (SIRT) treatments.

Eve Meenaghan/Kirsty Fisher: 0161 918 2346

Our Radiologists provide advice, protocol development and image reporting for these services. The services themselves are operated by the Christie Medical Physics and Engineering (CMPE) directorate. The nuclear medicine service performs a full range of radioisotope tumour imaging using a dual head gamma camera, SPET-CT and PET-CT. The Christie also provides a PET-CT service for the whole of Greater Manchester and Cheshire Cancer Network.

Nuclear Medicine/PET-CT - 0161 446 3942/0161 446 3945

Our consultant radiologists provide support to The Christie clinical teams through multi-disciplinary teams, with a named consultant leading for each disease group. About 40 multi-disciplinary teams are scheduled each month. There is also a lead radiologist for each specialty within radiology.

The Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) allows the storage and viewing of radiological images.

• PACS/Imaging Queries – 0161 446 3885

As a support service to the hospital's ground breaking research, the radiology department provides input to more than 150 active clinical trials at any one time, across all the disease groups.

A nephrostomy is for patients who have a tube inserted through the skin into one or both of their kidneys, which drains urine into a bag. This tube requires changing every 3 months and this is referred to as ‘exchange of nephrostomy’.

Procedural sedation and analgesia refers to a combination of medications (given via a cannula) that aim to help you stay relaxed and comfortable during some procedures that you might have at The Christie. If you're having procedural sedation and analgesia, you will have an opportunity to discuss having sedation with the specialist nurse on the day of your procedure.

For most abdominal drainages of ascites fluid, a small drain is inserted under local anaesthetic using ultrasound guidance. The fluid is then drained over several hours until no fluid remains.

For mucinous drainage, the mucin fluid is much thicker. It also cannot drain freely as opposed to standard abdominal fluid. These patients will need a Wide bore mucinous drainage procedure.