Musculoskeletal Radiology
Mark Schweitzer, MD, Section Chief
The Musculoskeletal Imaging section is concerned with all imaging and radiographic procedures involving the joints, muscles, ligaments and tendons and, in many circumstances, the spine. Among the disorders the section evaluates are arthropathy, traumatic injuries, stress-related injuries, sports injuries, metabolic bone diseases, and congenital anomalies.
A variety of imaging modalities are utilized, including conventional radiography (usually digital), computed tomography, ultrasound, fluoroscopy, MR, and imaging following contrast injection into joints.
Arthrography and joint injections are often done for administration of pharmaceuticals as well as for diagnostic purposes, often in combination with MR and, to lesser extent, CT. Other image-guided procedures performed are bone and soft-tissue biopsies, discograms, myelograms, epidural steroids and selective nerve blocks, radiofrequency tumor ablations (specifically for osteoid osteomas), and vertebroplasty.
The bulk of the work of the section is performed at the Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD), one of the oldest and most prestigious orthopedic hospitals in the country. The section is also responsible for musculoskeletal radiology at Tisch Hospital and Bellevue Hospital. Both adult and pediatric patients are seen at HJD, while adults only are seen at Tisch, the faculty practice offices (FPO), and Bellevue.
Images from this diverse patient population have been gathered into a web-based teaching file, which currently contains more than 300 cases.
The section maintains a varied conference schedule, with a systemwide MR conference on Mondays, a systemwide radiography conference on Thursdays, and a year-long fellow lecture on Wednesdays. We also cover the orthopedic spine, sports and hand conferences. In addition, we have a yearly weekend-long sports medicine imaging conference.
