PLATTSBURGH — Plattsburgh’s latest dedicated radiology office, Lake Champlain Imaging, is now open.
Dr. Anthony Conti, founder of Lake Champlain Imaging, opened this office after 22 years of service in the radiology department at Champlain Valley Physicians Hospital, 17 of those years spent as Chief Radiologist and Medical Director of Radiology.
Conti graduated from the Ohio State University, Ohio State University College of Medicine & Public Health in 1996.
He completed his radiology training at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and an additional year of training in a Musculoskeletal Imaging Fellowship at University of Southern California in Los Angeles.
In 2002, Conti moved to the North Country with his wife, Francesca Conti, who works at the office with him.
“We are so happy to finally be serving the community in the most cost effective way,” she said.
LCI provides a comprehensive array of radiologic imaging and cutting edge diagnostic testing, by doctor recommendation, including ultrasounds, CT scans, fluoroscopy barium study, cardiac echo, DEXA/bone density, coronary calcium score, lung cancer screening, joint injection, vascular ultrasound, prostate ultrasound, musculoskeletal ultrasound, video swallow study and ankle brachial index.
Additional diagnostic services including Holter monitor, home sleep study, foot neuropathy and cardiac autonomic dysfunction are also provided.
LCI utilizes an online portal to streamline patients’ access to imaging and sending it to their respective doctors.
David Vaccaro, GE Healthcare Senior Imaging Account Manager, said an office dedicated to radiology is important because it gives people more options for imaging and diagnostics.
“Nobody goes to the hospital if they don’t have to,” he said.
LCI also has special protocols and works closely with pediatricians to offer pediatric imaging and diagnostics.
“We have protocols in place and in most cases there is a way for the parents to stay with the child, or near them and we have methods of making the kids comfortable,” Conti said.
Lake Champlain Imaging boasts one of the area’s most advanced CT scanner, capable of scanning in 128 cross-sectional images, or “Slices,” per scan.
“Think of your body like a loaf of wonder bread, the slices are the cross sections, the more you have the more you can see in the images,” Conti said.
“When you’re imaging a heart, for example, you want more slices to avoid the motion fragments. The resolution on our machine is so high.”
Conti said he wanted to provide a personalized radiology experience with a doctor on site to answer any questions a patient may have.
All scans are processed by the technicians and read in the office by Dr. Conti, a practice that is untraditional in most modern imaging offices, according to Kate Holland, RT(R)(CT).
“The doctor will send an order over to us, and we can do it either same day or the next,” Holland said.
“Some benefits to this machine is a shorter scan time, enhanced image quality and a lower dose. Less advanced machines usually give off a higher dose of radiation.”
Other members of the LCI team agreed.
“This is a very comfortable place, I love it,” John Conti, Dr. Conti’s son, said.
John, who just received his basic EMT certification Saturday, has been helping around the office as he finishes up his medical assistance course.
One of Lake Champlain Imaging’s slogans, according to Conti, is “Modern radiology done the old fashioned way.”
“Everything is done here,” Conti said.
“The scans are read here in real time. Usually you go somewhere and the technicians will scan you and the images are sent out to a doctor who might be in another state. This way if the patients have any questions they can ask.”
Holland has been a CT technician for 10 years and according to her, the LCI is very family oriented when compared to a hospital.
“Dr. Conti is the best. He is great. He comes in and will actually see the patients and he always does what he can to answer their questions, which is not typical in this type of office,” Holland said.
According to Conti, everybody gets medical imaging at some point in their life.
“Whether it is the thyroid, gall bladder or kidneys, even a sprained ankle, at some point in life people need medical imaging,” he said.
“I wanted to provide this to the community I live in with the best team and the best equipment I can.”
Conti said he prefers running his own practice because he can be more involved.
“I like being part of a team,” he said.
“I was the medical director of radiology for 17 years. I know about how to run this, and choosing the right equipment and people for the job,” Conti said.
“I am able to do medicine the way I want to do it. The only boss I have to answer to is the patients.”