The likelihood of body injury or pain can increase with repetitive activity, athletic competition, or exercise. With an injury such as a visible dislocation or a broken bone, it's likely to be obvious that immediate medical attention is needed.

However, other injuries may be less clear and will require more investigation to evaluate and confirm a diagnosis. In both cases, medical imaging can be a powerful tool for you and your patient to determine treatment options.

Procedures

MRI

A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test may be ordered to help diagnose and develop treatment options for orthopedic disorders. Even after a thorough physical examination by an expert, it is often difficult to precisely diagnose a soft tissue or joint injury. MRI accurately depicts soft tissue injuries such as muscle, ligament and meniscal tears, as well as cartilage and bone injuries.

Images from an MRI allow you to formulate a possible treatment plan for your patient. In many cases, MRI documents non-surgical injuries, such as rotator cuff tendonitis and bone bruises.  It may also help avoid the prospect of surgery and ensure your patient receives the appropriate treatment faster and more cost effectively.

MRI also detects subtle bone marrow edema and architectural disturbances of the soft tissues. This makes MRI the modality of choice in the diagnosis of many other joint and bone disorders, such as bone and soft tissue tumors, infection, and avascular necrosis of bone.

CT

Another test, Computed Tomography (CT) is very useful in the diagnosis and follow up of many musculoskeletal disorders, particularly those pertaining to bone, such as fractures, healing fractures, and bone tumors. Recent developments in Multi-Slice Computed Tomography (MSCT) allow reconstruction of images in multiple planes as well as 3D imaging.

X-ray

An X-ray is perhaps the most familiar type of musculoskeletal imaging test. This procedure is most commonly used in viewing possible fractures and evaluation of arthritis or bone tumors.

Nuclear Imaging

Nuclear imaging can be used to determine musculoskeletal pain with non-specific X-ray findings to establish whether or not a bone abnormality is the source of pain. In addition, nuclear imaging is often used to diagnose possible spread of cancer.

Ultrasound

Ultrasound is useful in evaluating soft tissue abnormalities such as masses, tendon or muscle injuries, and the hips of infants suspected of having congenital hip dysplasia. It is most commonly used in the evaluation of rotator cuff injuries. Ultrasound images are obtained using a transducer (wand) that is guided across the skin surface over the affected area.

Pain Management

There are a variety of needle procedures performed by radiologists to diagnose and treat musculoskeletal disorders. These include therapeutic as well as diagnostic joint aspirations and injections, bone and soft tissue biopsies, facet and epidural steroid injections and discograms.