The Division of Emergency Imaging

The Division of Emergency Imaging provides imaging services for Mass General's Level I Trauma Center, which treats over 110,000 patients a year. 

The MGH Division of Emergency Radiology provides 24/7 imaging services for Mass General’s Level I Adult Trauma, Pediatric Trauma, and Level I Burn Centers, as well as for the Martha’s Vineyard Hospital and Nantucket Cottage Hospital Emergency Departments; off-hour imaging coverage is additionally provided for urgent imaging of inpatients, outpatients, and urgent-care center patients at multiple sites throughout the MGH/MGB network.

The division develops protocols and procedures that are widely adopted by other Emergency Radiology sections, worldwide. For example, a CT technique for diagnosing appendicitis, developed at Mass General, is now widely used throughout the country and can prevent up to 50,000 unnecessary operations per year by identifying patients who present with symptoms of, but do not have, appendicitis. Cross-sectional imaging protocols for other acute abdominal conditions can quickly identify patients who need emergency surgery and differentiate them from those for whom surgery is not necessary. MGH Emergency Radiology staff members have also played central roles in developing and implementing acute stroke neurovascular imaging protocols, for prompt diagnosis and treatment selection. Similar protocols have been developed for both traumatic and non-traumatic emergencies of the chest, spine, pelvis, face and extremities.

The division is at the forefront of radiology education and runs the country's first emergency-imaging fellowship, introduced in 1986 by Dr. Robert Novelline, co-founder of the American Society of Emergency Radiology.