Five Questions With: Dr. Susan L. Koelliker

Dr. Susan L. Koelliker, a radiologist at Women & Infants Hospital, has been named chief of diagnostic imaging.

 / COURTESY WOMEN & INFANTS HOSPITAL/CARE NEW ENGLAND
Dr. Susan L. Koelliker, a radiologist at Women & Infants Hospital, has been named chief of diagnostic imaging. / COURTESY WOMEN & INFANTS HOSPITAL/CARE NEW ENGLAND

Dr. Susan L. Koelliker, a radiologist with Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island, a Care New England Hospital, and assistant clinical professor of diagnostic imaging at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, has been named the new chief of diagnostic imaging at the Providence hospital, effective Jan. 1, 2016.

PBN: What radiology services does Women & Infants Hospital offer women?
KOELLIKER:
We offer full diagnostic imaging services to women. We specialize in breast imaging, including diagnostic and screening, 3D mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging. We offer ultrasound-guided, stereotactic and magnetic resonance-guided breast biopsies. Computed tomography, MRI, ultrasound and X-ray services are available 24/7 with subspecialist radiologist interpretation in all areas, not solely women’s imaging.

PBN: What radiology services does Women & Infants offer infants born there or transferred to the hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, and what kinds of illnesses or diseases warrant radiology exams of infants?
KOELLIKER:
We offer full diagnostic imaging services, 24/7, to neonates, including X-rays, ultrasounds, CTs, MRIs and fluoroscopies. Most of the imaging is performed for evaluation of prematurity and its complications.

PBN: You have been on staff for 20 years at the department. What are some of the most important radiology developments you’ve seen implemented at the hospital during the most recent years of your tenure, and what excites you about the future of the discipline?
KOELLIKER:
The department has seen enormous growth during this time; it began as a small department primarily offering obstetric and gynecologic ultrasound examination as well as mammography. Breast imaging services have exploded, with a transition to digital mammography, beginning in 2004. We were the first department in Rhode Island to offer tomosynthesis, known as 3-D mammography, in late 2011. We have been … offering the latest and most improved technology.
Twenty years ago, most breast lesions underwent surgical excision for diagnosis; today, that’s the exception, as most patients undergo image-guided biopsies in our department prior to any surgical planning. A CT scanner was installed at the hospital in 2003 and an MRI unit in 2006.
It is exciting to watch the department offer state-of-the-art, high-quality services to women in Rhode Island. I hope that we can continue to improve the patient experience here and offer the highest quality services at the forefront of medicine.

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PBN: Well-respected medical organizations have adopted divergent views about recommendations on the frequency and timing of mammograms for women. What is your advice to women on this issue?
KOELLIKER:
I concur with the American College of Radiology recommendations, which are to offer annual screening mammography to all women beginning at age 40.

PBN: Can you describe your research in breast health and lymph nodes and its relationship to the work you do at Women & Infants?
KOELLIKER:
The research in which I have collaborated with the Breast Health Center physicians has focused on the use of ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration of axillary lymph nodes. We continue to provide this service to patients in the staging of breast cancer as an adjunct to sentinel node biopsy and axillary node dissection.

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