Higher magnet mri?

[busymom2003]

I am new here and not sure if I am posting this in the appropriate spot...I have been having symptoms since last summer, went away for months and then came back stronger. PCP said 99% sure this is early MS, Neuro said sure looks like MS. My LP was normal. My brain mri had one "t2 high signal, possibly incedental abnormality. (I do not understand what a t2 high signal is?) So, Neuro tells me, nothing is wrong. Well, I have always very healthy until several months after my 3rd child was born. Symptoms have included blurry vision in R eye, stumbling constantly, falling, muscles feel heavy, weak, terrible bout of speech problems, heavy tingling, muscle twitching, debilitating fatigue, all get worse when I get out in the sun ( I hope that doesnt sound nuts). Oh-and I drop things ALL the time. Symptoms all on my right side. Feeling frustrated, alone, and want an answer or to feel better. The neuro said some of my reflexes are off, but acted like I was nuts. My mom is a nurse practioner and wants me to have another brain MRI on a higher powered magnet. Anyone know anything about this?

[COBOB]

A 3.0 Tesla MRI doubles the field density and and it doubles the Larmor Frequency over a 1.5 Tesla unit.  They are newer and have better RF coils and RF systems.  The magnet doesn't have anything to do with the image, it has to do with the H1 Proton Spin.  The RF systems is really where the image comes from.

Anyhow, in clinical tests with blinded radiologists, the radiologists were able to detect about 20% more lesions on 3T MRI generated brain images than 1.5 T MRI images.  So if you had 4 lesions on a 1.5T you might have 5 lesions on a 3.0T.  The largest difference is when doing spinal cord imaging where there is a small gradient change from between the lesion and the cord.  The 3 Telsa usits seem to be much better at spinal cord lesion detection.

Bob

[Lulu54]

Hi and welcome.  If the neuro acts like you are nuts, then it's time to move on to another doctor.  It's not usually to go through several neuros when you are looking for answers with an unknown disorder.  Working through an MS diagnosis is not for the weak - it can take a long, long time before enough disease is evident to satisfy some doctors.

You can find all sorts of excellent informaiton on our health pages, all of which were written by members of this community.

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/list?cid=36

Even better, we have one specific to MRIs and it will help with your questions -

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple-Sclerosis/How-does-an-MRI-work/show/79?cid=36

Short answer- yes, the higher the magnet strength, the better the image wil be and more likely to show MS lesions.  What was the strength of the machine you had the original set performed?

One other thing, be sure to get copies of all your tests.  Tht way if you change doctors, you can supply copies of everything to date.

welcome to the forum,
Lulu