Can you help me. I need to know what White-matter disease is. I have been told is is a form of cancer. Can you tell me if it is or not.

Sunshine,

"White matter" is brain tissue composed of myelin-coated nerve cell fibers, which carries information between the nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. It is in contrast to "gray matter," or the "thinking brain," which is composed of nerve cells and blood vessels - the portions of the brain that do the work.

White matter disease is a catch-all term for disorders afflicting the white matter and has many causes, both primary (meaning the disease affects the white matter primarily) and secondary (as in your example/question: a brain tumor could affect the white matter). Sometimes there are subtle changes that are associated with age, and so on.

I don't know why you are looking for information on white matter disease, but if you or a loved one has been told that you have white matter disease or white matter lesions evident on MRI, you should talk with your doctor to get more information about the extent of the disease, likely causes, and whether or not you need more evaluation to figure out the cause.

Good luck!

Thank you for your reply. I was told that my husband had a "SMALL VESSEL DISEASE" in Febuary, when I asked the doctor about this disease, he only reply that it wasn't anything to worry about. Well, in April my husband started losing all controls of his body. He wasn't able to feed himself, sit up without support to his back, he would also hold his head backwards without support. If I talk to him, he would look at you as what are you talking about.
The doctor order another MRI in April and called the disease "White-matter".
I couldn't get any doctor to talk to me about this disease. My husband got very bad the middle of May and was put in the hospital. He was on dailysis and I was told that it was the only thing that was prolong his life. They, the doctors said he would get very very bad if I kepted him a life. He died on June 4, 2005. I have now been told my a person that this disease was a form of cancer and I just wanted to know about so maybe I could help others understand about this disease.
Cheryl

I'm so sorry about your husband, and I'm stunned that none of his doctors would talk to you about the disease. That really shocks me. If any of his doctors is also your doctor... I might think about changing physicians to find someone willing to explain a diagnosis to you.

Small vessel disease is a disorder of the circulatory system where the smallest arteries (arterioles) gradually form the veins (venules), and is related to atherosclerosis (fatty deposits on the walls of the arteries), high blood pressure, disorders of the muscles affecting the arterial walls, which cause them to open or close too much. Essentially, the blood flow in the small vessels was restricted. Smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure are all associated with small vessel disease, but it’s possible that there are other factors – genetic components, etc. – that cause some people with these problems to get small vessel disease (esp. cerebral small vessel disease) when other people with the same risk factors don’t have the same problem.

The lack of enough oxygen to the deep structures of the brain can result in many of the changes you describe in your husband. Small vessel disease is also associated with mini-strokes, which can affect the white matter and also result in the symptoms you describe, and with major strokes.

I think that there are some treatments available, maybe when it is caught early and depending on the specific type of small vessel disease he had, but the most important one is controlling the risk factors: smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. If you have children or grandchildren (or brothers and sisters or brothers-in-law or sisters-in-law, etc.) and want to help them understand your husband’s death, it’s also a good ‘teaching tool’ about the importance of managing risk factors like these early and well.

Again, I’m so sorry about your husband. I hope this helped.