Past, Present, and Future of Emergency Radiology

In the past 2 decades, emergency radiology has emerged as one of the newest and fastest growing radiology subspecialties. In the past, emergency imaging consisted of radiographic examinations, and patients who required more advanced diagnostic imaging were admitted for hospitalization. Today, with the ready availability of cross-sectional imaging with CT, MRI, and ultrasound, the emergency radiology facility has become the acute diagnostic imaging centre. U.S. emergency departments have experienced an explosive growth of emergency imaging, especially with emergency CT. However, the use of emergency crosssectional imaging can expedite patient care as well as prevent unnecessary hospital admissions and unnecessary emergency surgery. A successful emergency imaging facility must be carefully designed and managed to provide the quality imaging resources required for the predicted increase in volume of emergency patient visits. Also predicted is an increase in demand for 24 hours per day, 7 days per week emergency imaging services as well as demands of an increase in emergency cardiac imaging and emergency MR, and in measures to decrease CT radiation exposure. © 2013 Canadian Association of Radiologists. All rights reserved.