Orthopedic care depends on good quality images of the bones and soft tissues. Our world-class imaging team provides care for both you as well as your favorite Miami professional sports team.
From the professional athlete to the weekend warrior and the occasional couch potato.
Musculoskeletal radiology is the subspecialty of radiology that is devoted to the study and diagnosis of diseases related to the bones, joints, muscles and tendons. Musculoskeletal specialists are specially trained radiologists who have thorough knowledge of the detailed anatomy of the musculoskeletal system. We are also able to integrate information from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), radiography, sonography (ultrasound) and other imaging methods to solve challenging diagnostic problems whether related to trauma, tumors, or rheumatologic disease. Our imaging techniques are constantly refined and updated to provide the greatest diagnostic accuracy.
Radiology Associates of South Florida musculoskeletal radiologists have a long history of dedicated academic and clinical expertise in this subspecialty:
Professional Athletes and Performers
RASF is proud to provide radiological services for the Miami Dolphins, the Miami Heat, the Florida Panthers, the Sony Ericsson tennis tournament, Miami-Dade County Public Schools athletics, the Florida International University (FIU) athletic department, as well as the Miami City Ballet. We are proud partners of the world-class orthopedic surgeons of the renowned UHZ Sports Medicine Institute and the renowned Orthopedic Institute of South Florida.
Arthrograms /Joint injections/Interventional procedures
Our team is adept at the performance of CT and MR arthrograms, in which CT or MR images of a joint are obtained after a contrast agent is injected directly into the joint space under imaging guidance. We have refined the procedure to maximize patient comfort and to obtain images for demonstration of subtle abnormalities. Additionally we provide:
There are over 650 muscles, 900 ligaments, and 200 bones in the body, and a specialized knowledge of how they normally look, how they work, and how they are damaged is critical to making an accurate diagnosis. Of the dozens of structures in the knee, for example, a small tear could be the source of your nagging pain, possibly in a hard-to-find location. The RASF musculoskeletal team has the honor and privilege of providing radiological services to Miami's elite professional athletes, and we are gladly available to provide the same service to all patients.
We have multiple ways of getting at different information from the body. Each has its own advantages and disadvantages. For bone tumors, an x-ray can help identify subtle calcifications or erosions of bone. A CT scan may be useful for planning a surgery or a procedure. An MRI may evaluate the amount of vascularity and inflammation associated with the lesion. For sports injuries, an x-ray may help provide the best perspective on alignment, particularly for weight-bearing joints or with stress views. A CT scan may be useful for planning a surgery, assessing bone stock, or evaluating hardware. An MRI may help identify soft tissue injuries, internal derangement of the menisci or ligaments, or bone bruises. Your orthopedist or primary care physician may choose one or more of these modalities for evaluation.
RASF offers a musculoskeletal intervention service, staffed by Dr. Juan Carlos Batlle and Dr. Thomas Scagnelli. We can use small needles to target your joints or nerves to provide long-acting anti-inflammatory agents that can provide many months of relief. The advantage of image-guided injections is that we use imaging to prove that we are in the joint or in the intended space for the delivery of medication, so that when the medication is delivered we know for sure it is hitting its intended target. This is important for two reasons: 1) We want you to feel better and so we want to know the medication is in the right place and 2) If the injection doesn't work to relieve your pain, we need to be sure the injection was properly placed before discarding injections of that joint as a misguided approach. For example, the hip is a complicated joint with many possible sources of pain. If injecting the hip joint provides no relief, then your orthopedist may recommend injecting the iliopsoas tendon sheath or investigate the lumbar spine as a source for pain. He or she can only do that confidently if we are sure that the original hip injection was in the right place.
