MRI Result

[Justg66]

Just had an MRI and am confused about the results:

There is mild cerebellar tonsillar ectopia, decended approximately 7mm below foramen magnum but not as far caudally as C1. The spinal canal is adequate throughout and there is normal signal from cervical spinal cord.
C4-5: mminimal posterior disk osteophyte complex.

Impression:  Mild cerebellar tonsillar ectopia.
C4-5 minimal spondylosis without stenosis

[deadmemory]

Sounds to me you have chiari malformation. I copied this from answers.com, i don't take any credit for this, but I thought it would help



A disk osteophyte complex occurs where the soft tissue of the inter-vertebral disk herniates or extrudes outside of the of its normal parameters along with a bone spur(s) of the vertebrae. The bone spurs are smooth structures formed over a period of time, i.e., degenerative changes as part of the aging process. Because of the delicate nature of the degenerative changes, which alone may by asymptomatic, any intervening trauma may make them symptomatic due any combination of the spur or disk protrusion. Pain and numbness may occur because of the combination of the disk and the osteophyte (or "disk osteophyte complex") impinging on the nerve root system, or structure surrounding the spinal cord.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_causes_disk_-_osteophyte_complex#ixzz1jxuD7BGm

[sara12345]

I don't know how many radiologists watch this website.  On my MRI, anything mild or minimal was nothing to worry about.  And it looks like everything else is normal.  I think you should ask your doctor what it means.  That's what they are for.