Bone Densitometry (DEXA) CadX Second Look CT or "CAT" Scan Echocardiography Fluoroscopy Digital Mammography MRI Stereotactic Biopsy Ultrasound Vascular Lab X-Ray

	April 19, 2010 HVRA Teams Up with Yale Diagnostic Radiologists to Enhance Subspecialty Expertise Learn more... April 12, 2010 HVRA’s New Milford Office Now Offering Diagnostic Ultrasound Learn more...

HVRA Receives ACR Accreditation for Outpatient Biopsy Services

April 5, 2010

Housatonic Valley Radiological Associates (HVRA) has received accreditation for its outpatient biopsy services from the American College of Radiology (ACR). The ACR accreditation includes all of HVRA’s ultrasound-guided and stereotactic biopsy services used typically for breast and thyroid tissue examinations. Offering a less invasive biopsy alternative to open surgical biopsy, HVRA’s biopsy services are provided on a convenient, outpatient basis.

Ultrasound-guided biopsies provide a highly accurate way to evaluate suspicious masses within the breast or thyroid that are visible on ultrasound, without the need for open surgical biopsy. Stereotactic biopsy uses x-ray and advanced computer imaging technology to map the precise three-dimensional location of areas of the breast or thyroid that appear abnormal in the mammogram, but cannot be located by touch or by ultrasound. A small section of the suspicious tissue is removed with pinpoint accuracy while minimizing scarring. The sample can then be sent to an outside laboratory for further analysis.

The ACR, headquartered in Reston, Va., awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation of the practice. Evaluations are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. They assess the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of facility equipment. The surveyors report their findings to the ACR’s Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report.

The ACR is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic-interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

HVRA is an independent diagnostic radiology program with locations in Danbury, Southbury and New Milford. Established in 1978, it is a full-service diagnostic radiology practice, also offering a complete range of women’s diagnostic imaging services. HVRA is owned and operated by Conrad P. Ehrlich, MD, who has practiced diagnostic radiology for the past 25 years in Western Connecticut.