Valley Baptist-Harlingen Unveils New Capabilities for Breast, Prostate MRIs

After key upgrades to equipment, Valley Baptist Medical Center-Harlingen has made new capabilities available to patients in need of breast and prostate imaging.

The upgrades, which were recently made to both of Valley Baptist-Harlingen’s Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) suites, will allow Physicians and Radiologists to obtain more detailed images for patients requiring breast or prostate imaging.

“Using highly specialized protocols, the MRI units here at Valley Baptist-Harlingen create detailed MRI images of the breasts. These images, along with mammograms and breast ultrasounds, offer a more complete ‘picture’ to our physicians and providers as they care for their patients,” said Joey Govea, Director of Radiology and Imaging Services at Valley Baptist-Harlingen. “Likewise, we can now obtain incredibly detailed images of the prostate very easily via our MRI units. Physicians will now have additional information available to them when screening prostates thanks to this enhanced technology.”

Govea said the new imaging capabilities will help physicians at Valley Baptist’s Breast Center provide more focused courses of treatment for their patients and offer another weapon in the fight against breast cancer.

“With the additional scanning capabilities, our Radiologists have more information available to them. Having this advanced and more powerful capability better supports our Valley Baptist Breast Center. This advancement allows our certified technologists to perform an MRI of the breast as an adjunct study to breast ultrasounds and diagnostic mammograms,” he said. “This, in turn, leads to more detailed results being provided to our ordering physicians.”

The new upgrades also come with the benefit of added convenience for patients in need of breast or prostate screenings, Govea said.

“The advanced and more powerful MRIs at Valley Baptist-Harlingen allows our certified and nationally registered technologists to perform prostate studies with minimal preparation by the patient. That means patients can have a light breakfast the day of their MRI; only needing to make a quick trip to the restroom before their procedure,” he said. “Our advanced technology also reduces the time a patient spends in the MRI process, now at 40 to 45 minutes.”