Point-of-care radiology service at the US Open Tennis Championships

Professional tennis tournaments have onsite sports medicine physicians who oversee the athletes’ overall health during competition, including musculoskeletal injury and general illnesses. The medical team is composed of orthopedic and non-operative sports medicine physicians. Frequently, the tournament doctors require imaging to localize and grade musculoskeletal injuries and to make decisions regarding treatment, safe training, and return to match play. The most versatile and readily available imaging modality to evaluate for acute musculoskeletal injury is point-of-care ultrasonography. In 2015, a dedicated radiology service was created at the US Open by bringing in a musculoskeletal radiologist who would perform ultrasounds in a formal and consistent manner. In addition, the radiologist was tasked with onsite radiography as well as review of all MRI examinations done at the imaging center. This article describes how this radiology service was implemented, what types of studies were performed and the advantages of having an onsite musculoskeletal radiologist at the tournament. This service allowed the medical team to provide the comprehensive and efficient medical care required in a major professional tennis event. It also showed the value of having the in-person expertise of the musculoskeletal radiologist in the sports medicine team. This same model could be applied to other professional sporting events.