| Re: cervical spine mri interpretation
That's not a very helpful MRI report. Either the radiologist didn't see anything he thought was worth describing or he was late for his tee time.
At C4-5 you have osteoarthritis with bone spurs starting to come into the foramina, the openings where the C5 nerves leave the cord and head into your shoulders and arms. He says it's "minor", though, which means he doesn't think it's currently of concern.
You have the same thing at C6-7 (odd that there's nothing said about C5-6), but a little worse. Here, the osteophytes have pushed backward into the spinal canal and pushed away (effaced) the spinal fluid that's between the theca (membrane around the outside of the canal) and the spinal cord. This is only a problem if it's pushing far enough back to affect the cord, and he doesn't say anything about that.
However, the foramina are narrowed more here than at C4-5. If the nerve roots were affected (radiculopathy), the most indicative symptom would be problems/feelings in the first two fingers of the right hand.
I think you need another set of eyes on the MRI, either a neurologist or spine surgeon. Not on the report, which strikes me as inadequate, but on the images themselves.
Last edited by WebDozer; 06-22-2012 at 12:15 PM.
| 
