Division of Musculoskeletal Imaging & Intervention

The Division of Musculoskeletal Radiology & Intervention is a leading provider of diagnostic services and image-guided therapies to patients with joint and spine disorders.

The division's team of physicians, schedulers and technologists achieves the highest quality of care in a personalized environment. One of our top priorities is ease of access. We pride ourselves on responsiveness to patient inquiries and physician requests.

Clinical Services

• Diagnostic Imaging. We utilize radiography, fluoroscopy, ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging to make accurate diagnoses:
• Sports. Our diagnoses help guide the treatment of sports injuries. We are involved in the care of athletes ranging from the weekend-warrior to the elite professional.
• Oncology. We use the full range of imaging techniques to guide the diagnosis and treatment of bone and soft-tissue tumors.
• Rheumatology and Infectious Diseases. We understand the full spectrum of inflammatory and infectious conditions.
• Spine. We are experts in correlating symptoms with imaging findings to pinpoint the cause of neck and back pain.
• Interventional Musculoskeletal Oncology. This service uses image-guided procedures to diagnose and treat both benign and malignant bone & soft tissue tumors:
• We perform image-guided needle biopsies and also bone marrow aspirations/biopsies.
• We perform ablations of soft tissue and bone tumors, for both palliation and treatment. We are an international referral center for image-guided, minimally invasive treatment of osteoid osteoma.
• Interventional Pain Management. Image-guidance is used to treat and diagnose a variety of painful musculoskeletal pathologies, typically with injection of an anesthetic and/or steroid:
• Joints and bursae. We perform image-guided injections of joints and bursae from head-to-toe.
• Spine. We perform image-guided spinal nerve root blocks and facet injections at any spinal level. We also perform interlaminar epidural steroid injections and medial branch blocks in the lumbar spine. Rhizotomies can be performed using radiofrequency ablation as a more durable alternative for patients with chronic facet-joint related pain.
• Other miscellaneous procedures:
• Botulinum toxin injections for thoracic outlet syndrome. MGH is an international referral center for thoracic outlet syndrome. As part of the multidisciplinary approach to treatment, we provide ultrasound-guided injections of botulinum toxin to the anterior/middle scalene and the pectoralis minor muscles.
• Aspirations. Joints, bursae, and soft tissue collections can be aspirated to diagnose infection and other causes of inflammation.
• Arthrograms. These procedures involve the injection of a contrast dye into a joint prior to an MRI or CT scan to better delineate intra-articular disorders.