Therapeutic injections are often used to provide relief from chronic pain that has not improved with more conservative management and sports injuries. They work by delivering anti-inflammatory medications directly into the injection site, typically a joint or the epidural space of the spine. The injection is generally performed with the aid of an x-ray technology called fluoroscopy to ensure the safe and accurate position of the needle. Injections may include the use of steroids, anesthetics or joint fluid-like materials. Platelet rich plasma injections utilize the patients own blood which has been run through a centrifuge to concentrate the natural growth agents within the blood that stimulate healing. In addition to treating pain, injections often provide valuable diagnostic information by helping to pinpoint the source of your pain.

Our Interventional Pain Division is headed by Dr. Rahul N. Desai. He has been practicing interventional pain management and performing musculoskeletal and sports medicine radiologic interpretation in the Portland metro area since the summer of 2008. Prior to that, he provided these services to the St. Louis area's major league sports team while at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology at Washington University in St. Louis.

Dr. Desai's role is to provide evaluation and treatment of chronic pain and sports injuries working in concert with your regular physician. Evaluation generally involves sophisticated imaging protocols with technologies like, MRI, CT and ultrasound.

Types of Exams
Joint Aspiration
Image-Guided Therapeutic Injections
Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) Injections
Sports Hernia Evaluation
MR Arthrography