Division of Musculoskeletal Imaging: Fellowship Program
The Musculoskeletal Imaging fellowship is a one year post-residency training program. The program provides clinical experience in the full range of disorders affecting both the adult and pediatric musculoskeletal systems, involving both the axial and appendicular skeleton including; traumatic, neoplastic, infectious, articular, hematologic, metabolic, congenital/developmental, and degenerative disease.
In recent years the fellowship has developed into a well recognised and comprehensive training program attracting high calibre applicants from around the world. There are currently three musculoskeletal imaging fellow trainees within the program each academic year.
In order to provide this comprehensive experience, the program includes rotations at:
- Joint Department of Medical Imaging at Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network (Toronto Western, Toronto General and Princess Margaret Hospitals)
- The Hospital for Sick Children
- St Michael's Hospital
University of Toronto faculty specializing in Musculoskeletal imaging include: Dr. D. Salonen, Dr. R Bleakney, Dr. M. Lax, Dr. E. Becker, and Dr. L. White at Mount Sinai Hospital and The University Health Network; Dr. M. Ranson and Dr. P. Babyn at the Hospital for Sick Children; Dr. D. Pearce at St Michael's Hospital.
The program emphasises the application and interpretation of MSK imaging examinations and procedures, including radiography, arthrography, radionuclide scintigraphy, ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and image-guided percutaneous biopsy techniques.
Fellows are responsible for coordinating and reporting medical imaging for both inpatients and outpatients at each institution, and work in close consultation with the staff, fellows, and residents in Orthopedic Surgery, Rheumatology, Oncology, and Emergency Medicine, as well as occasionally interacting with other subspecialists in Medicine and Surgery.
The fellows attend, and along with staff, are actively involved with the coordination and presentation of resident didactic conferences and teaching/image interpretation sessions in MSK imaging. The fellows also participate in interdepartmental conferences with Orthopedic Surgery, Rheumatology, and Oncology.
Participation in rounds for other medical and surgical services will be expected for topics related to MSK disease, and will occasionally include imaging-oriented conferences with medical students and other medical staff.
Dedicated research time of one day per week is available to allow the fellows to pursue and complete at least one substantial research project during the year. The three fellows share an office space with their own network terminal and have access to the full range of office equipment and facilities. In addition, there is online access to the University of Toronto library with its extensive array of e-journals, e-references and e-texts.
Mount Sinai Hospital and the University Health Network (MSH-UHN) together perform approximately 500,000 examinations per year of which 80,000 are MSK studies. This group currently has 7 1.5T MRI scanners, one interventional open 0.2T scanner and a further 1.5T and 3T scanner will be installed within a year. There are 8 multislice spiral CT scanners and 3 single slice spiral CT scanners. A CT/PET scanner is currently being installed. There are 50 ultrasound machines. Radiography is completely digital with 9 DR units and the remainder being CR units. The other institutions within the division also have state of the art imaging equipment covering all modalities.
