Extended Medical Listings

A Center Devoted to Patient Care

Eisenhower Imaging Center is the leader in cutting-edge technology and imaging expertise, with the finest equipment available to healthcare professionals and their patients. Utilizing high-tech machinery, the physicians and technologists at Eisenhower Imaging Center can investigate the intricacies of human anatomy with precision and accuracy. For valley residents, the visionary power of the center contributes to life-saving, time-conserving, and pain-reducing results.

“This is an exciting phase for us,” says Blair Dick, executive director for the center. “We’re expanding in variety of ways. We’re opening new facilities to serve a broader portion of the valley, while adding tremendous new technology to our present collection.”

The imaging center’s newest facility will include a 3.0 Tesla MRI. Usually available only in university hospital settings, the 3.0 T magnet is the most powerful scanner available today. It’s a breathtaking breakthrough in high-field imaging that’s twice as powerful as its predecessors and up to 60 percent faster than some conventional MRI scanners. The system can perform spectacular head, spine, and musculoskeletal imaging — all of them providing resolution previously only dreamed of.

The greatest technology, however, is worthless without the professional staff to interpret the images. Eisenhower Imaging Center exemplifies an ideal blend of components: the best equipment and the best radiologists to promote the best results for Coachella Valley patients. Currently the center’s medical team includes 17 physicians, whose specialties range from oncology and neurology to women’s health, gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, and orthopedic imaging.

“We are the largest, most subspecialized radiology group in the valley for both imaging and intervention,” says Dr. Brian Herman, medical director of Eisenhower Imaging Center and chairman of the Eisenhower Medical Center department of radiology.

“All of our physicians are board certified and fellowship trained, and we work as a team, so patients receive the benefit of our subspecialty approach. This means that once a diagnosis is made, our team of interventional radiologists can also perform the minimally invasive surgical procedures to treat a variety of illnesses such as strokes, aneurysms, and spinal fractures.”

In addition to the MRI, the new center will also add a dedicated SPECT/CT scanner to enhance its existing program. SPECT/CT is redefining the diagnosis and treatment of the most challenging cases by the fusion of anatomical and physiologic imaging techniques. Through a highly flexible gamma camera and high-end, ultra-precise CT scanner, the machine allows doctors to detect and isolate specific sources of pain. In other words, the state-of-the-art scanner enhances the doctors’ ability to see the source of pain. “The SPECT/CT can reveal previously unsuspected causes for back pain leading to precise, directed treatment. Patients who struggled for years with undiagnosed back pain, can experience more accurate diagnosis leading to much more effective treatment, and finally live pain free,” says Dr. M. James Cohn, who directs the program for the center.

Oncology imaging encompasses many modalities but PET/CT has come to dominate the scanning needs of many cancer patients. “We can now diagnose cancer in all parts of the body with a single scan that evaluates sites of cancer and their response to treatment with remarkably accuracy,” says PET specialist Adam Brochert, M.D.

“Diagnosis is everything,” explains Dr. Herman. “Our doctors are experts at interpreting images and providing necessary treatment.” Often the proper diagnosis, based on high-quality imagery and analysis, results in treatment options other than conventional surgical techniques. Consequently, the equipment and expertise that define the imaging center frequently provide for safer, simpler, and less costly solutions to illness or injury than other, less advanced facilities can offer.

“It is our mandate to stay on the leading edge of technology and clinical expertise,” says Dr. Herman. “At Eisenhower Medical Center, we’ve developed a comprehensive neuroscience and surgical institute with a superb collection of programs and physicians.”

Ultimately, the beauty of Eisenhower Imaging Center, however, and its singular position among similar medical offices throughout Southern California, lies in something less tangible than training or technology. When Dr. Herman and his colleagues founded the Center more than five years ago, they wanted to create a facility uniquely devoted to the patient and his/her experience. Radiologists are often thought of as “the man behind the curtain,” admits Dr. Herman. “But these are my patients. We’re not just reading films. We see people often here. We develop relationships that are comforting and helpful for all of us. We are the guys on the front lines, making critical diagnoses and saving lives. But we want people to know and trust us, and we want to treat our patients, if not like royalty, at least like human beings.”

Their model for a more humane and comfortable healthcare experience: the Four Seasons hotel. The lobby of the facility is plush, even elegant. The Center offers complimentary valet parking, and future offices will mirror the theme of personal comfort, safety, and trust. “This environment sustains itself,” says Dr. Herman. “Once you set a bar of humanism, you may not realize it until you’ve been in business a few years, and you compare yourself to other establishments, but it stays there. And it elevates the practice for everyone.”

Eisenhower Imaging Center is a 15,000-square-foot facility on the Eisenhower Medical Center campus in Rancho Mirage. New offices will open in Rancho Mirage and in La Quinta in 2009 and early 2010, respectively. For information about the center, call: (760) 674-3850.