** FINDINGS **:
MRI of the brain obtained without gadolinium contrast on a 1.5
Tesla magnet per routine protocol.
A few punctate foci of subcortical T2 prolongation are highly
nonspecific but so mild as to be of doubtful significance. No
visible acute intracranial hemorrhage. No significant mass-effect
midline shift or diffusion restriction is identified. No gross
ritual flow void abnormalities are seen. Sella and other midline
structures are unremarkable.
Slight artifact. No convincing intrinsic cord signal abnormality
is seen. No visible abnormalities of posterior fossa identified.
Straightening of normal cervical spine lordosis with minor
anterolisthesis at the C2-3 level. Multi-level disc desiccation.
Evaluation of central canal and neural foramina specifically by
level is as follows:
At the C2-3 level, spinal canal and neural foramina are patent.
At the C3-4 level, minor posterior disc osteophyte complex with
patent spinal canal and neural foramina.
At the C4-5 level, minor posterior disc osteophyte complex with
essentially patent spinal canal and neural foramina.
At the C5-6 level, minor posterior disc osteophyte complex with
patent spinal canal neural foramina.
At the C6-7 level, spinal canal and neural foramina appear
patent.
At the C7-T1 level, spinal canal and neural foramina appear patent.
Hi rkm,
If you elaborate on your symptoms a little bit it would help the vets here in understanding your mri. I see "headaches and pain". If you could elaborate a little bit more:
Pain in arms?
Upper back pain?
How bad are the headaches on a scale of 1-10 and how often?
Any tingling or numbness anywhere?
Was there a specific triggering event that brought on your pain?; car wreck, fall? Or did this creep up on you slowly?
Have you had any epidural steroid injections in your spine or nerve roots? If so, did they help?
So if you get a chance to reply, that information will help the more experienced veterans here help you. I hope you are doing ok today.
Matt
I am experiencing severe neck pain, upper back/ mid back pain and it radiates to the head and I get frequent headaches. It also radiates to my arms and I feel numbness/tinglging in both my hands and less frequently radiates to the buttocks and the leg. I have observed the symptoms slowly increasing. I am experiencing back and neck problems from last 10 years, but was never in so much pain.
I have been told I have slight neck arthritis and I have joint pain all over - carpel tunnel syndrome, finger joints, elbows, knees, ankles and spinal cord. I get spinal adjustments on my cervical thorax and lumbar region and neck adjustments. I feel little better after getting chiro adjustments. I also started taking acupuncture from last 2 years and I get needles on my spine and 2 lines parallel to spine and on my arms, tennis elbow, wrist and knees. All the treatment effect lasts only for few days and the pain comes back again. I have constant fatigue. I have been diagnoised with Fibromyalgia and SLE-Lupus.
Forgot to mention that I refused to take steriod injections for my back pain. And also my lupus medication and chiro adjustments have reduced my frequency of headaches. I used to have headache 3-4 days a week - tension headache, sinus headaches and migraines.
Well I am not the greatest expert on the boards here, but here is my 2 cents.
Quote:
MRI of the brain obtained without gadolinium contrast on a 1.5
Tesla magnet per routine protocol.
A few punctate foci of subcortical T2 prolongation are highly
nonspecific but so mild as to be of doubtful significance. No
visible acute intracranial hemorrhage. No significant mass-effect
midline shift or diffusion restriction is identified. No gross
ritual flow void abnormalities are seen. Sella and other midline
structures are unremarkable.
** IMPRESSION **:
No acute intracranial pathology identified.
The above is good news. There doesn't appear to be anything significant inside your skull that would definitively explain your symptoms. However mris are not the last word by any means. They don't catch everything. Anyone here will tell you that.
---------------------------
Slight artifact. No convincing intrinsic cord signal abnormality
is seen. No visible abnormalities of posterior fossa identified.
Straightening of normal cervical spine lordosis with minor
anterolisthesis at the C2-3 level. Multi-level disc desiccation.
Your spine has a few very small things going on in the top levels closest to your skull. The "minor anterolisthesis" means your c2 vertebra is slipped forward just a tiny bit over the c3 vertebrae. The disc dessication means the discs in between your vertabrae are dehydrating. I will let someone else here interpret that more thoroughly.
Quote:
Evaluation of central canal and neural foramina specifically by
level is as follows:
At the C2-3 level, spinal canal and neural foramina are patent.
At the C3-4 level, minor posterior disc osteophyte complex with
patent spinal canal and neural foramina.
At the C4-5 level, minor posterior disc osteophyte complex with
essentially patent spinal canal and neural foramina.
At the C5-6 level, minor posterior disc osteophyte complex with
patent spinal canal neural foramina.
At the C6-7 level, spinal canal and neural foramina appear
patent.
At the C7-T1 level, spinal canal and neural foramina appear patent.
The rest of your cervical spine does not sound too bad. The neural foramina are the holes, or exits, that your nerves go through as they branch off to different parts of your body. They are in good shape (patent). I see you have carpal - that could be the cause of the numbness/tingling in your hands. Your spinal cord appears to be in good shape as it is not being impinged, or squished, inside the cervical vertebrae. The osteophyte complexes are arthritis. It doesn't appear to be too bad because if it was serious it would be impinging on your nerves. So, overall the brain/cervical mri doesn't appear to be the diagnostic tool that will definitively explain your symptoms. It is suggesting more or less normal wear and tear.
I hope this helps. Someone else with more experience may be along to comment on your mri. I have headaches that radiate from the neck and it does not feel good.
I know you just asked for an mri interpretation so you might not want xtra advice, but if so, I would urge you to check out the fibromyalgia board, the headache board, the chronic pain board, the carpal board, and just the general health category since you have severe pain in so many places. I don't know anything about lupus. Please post some updates here if you find relief or just want to vent or whatever. Take care.
Thank you very much for the interpretation. you mentioned that mri is not the last resort to know what is wrong - what tests can be done beyond this to know my chronic pain ?
