VA Connecticut Health Care System: Diagnostic Imaging

General Information

West Haven VA Medical Center, Bldg 1 950 Campbell Ave, West Haven, CT 06516 Administrative/Contact Officer, Karen Severino Admin Assistant, Barbara Pawlowicz

Phone: Fax:

203-937-3842 203-937-3898

The VA Diagnostic Imaging Service provides imaging consultation and diagnostic procedures for the VA Connecticut Health Care System, with imaging centers at the West Haven Campus and Newington Campus. We provide services to Primary Care, Subspecialty Clinics and In-patients. We perform 70,000 examinations annually, including general and emergency radiography, fluoroscopy, multislice Computed Tomography, MRI, Ultrasound, Bone Densitometry, Angiography and interventional procedures, nuclear medicine and PET imaging with cyclotron facilities. Our department has a Kodak PACs system, and is filmless. Access to our network is through specialized workstations in key clinics, wards, and ER, and access via desktop (currently through VistaImaging) will shortly be upgraded to a web-based access through thin clients within the medical centers, and off-site through a secure VPN network.

Clinical Research

The VA offers unique opportunity for clinical research through HIC approved access to the electronic medical record and radiology imaging resources, and multidisciplinary collaboration (examples include protocol for carotid stenting, aorto-iliac stent-grafts, cardiac imaging).

We have added two faculty in Nuclear Medicine, two in cross sectional and one in interventional radiology in the past two years. Our faculty’s scope of practice includes general and cross-sectional imaging, nuclear medicine, neuroradiology, and angiography. Many YDR radiology faculty retain privileges at the VA Medical center, and VA faculty provide clinical services at YNHH. Our expertise is directed toward a complex spectrum of disease in the patient population, which includes those suffering from chronic lung disease, atherosclerosis, renal and cardiac disease, often in addition to neoplastic conditions, endocrine dysfunction, and acute and chronic conditions of the abdomen. 15% of veterans are estimated to be carriers of chronic HCV, and we are involved in screening at risk patients.

Residency program: Joint residency program with Yale New Haven in Diagnostic Radiology (3 residents PGY2-4) and Nuclear Medicine (1). Fellowship participation in angiography/interventional (including non-invasive vascular imaging) and neuroradiology. Residents are offered experience in chest, GI and GU radiology, cross sectional imaging including multidetector CT, neuro and body MR, and will be offered training in 3 D reconstruction techniques. Two members of our faculty are appointed to the residency selection committee. We offer a radiology teaching module to students in YSM Internal Medicine, PA students and external students.

Research Direction

• Virtual colonoscopy
• Use of cross sectional imaging in screening and evaluation of liver disease and focal masses; contrast agents in ultrasound, particularly in screening /evaluating liver lesions,
• Efficacy of screening and treatment of lung and other neoplasia, vascular stents, non-invasive coronary artery imaging.
• CT and MRI cardiac imaging
• Non-invasive vascular imaging
• 3-D imaging
• oncology imaging
• PACs and relational database research
• Cryotherapy of renal masses