question about my upcoming brain mri

[daddypix]

Hello guys, i ve been setup for a brain mri this coming monday as i was at the nuero dr.s office yesterday explaining my symptoms and going through a short nuero exam which i passed........my question is does a brain scan pickup about 95% of the cases involving ms.2.Since its only been two months since my symptoms presented itself is that long enough to show anything, is there a window per say.3.since my symptoms involve my legs cramping. feeling stiff, tiring easy...bladder issues but that seems to have leveled off alittle and my face feels numb on the left side plus it feels like something is on my face like hair weierd feeling.........and my ears ring would that indicate some damage to the nerves in the brain and be picked up the scan.......4. i say 2 months but i ve had strange things occur to me since i was 15...i explained them to him and he said since they didnt lasts but only seconds it probably wasnt related to ms that it would ve lasted atleast 24 hours straight or intermittedly that long.......Any help would be appreciated thx.....

[COBOB]

Remyelination (repair of the damaged covering of the nerve) is a pretty slow process.  Some lesions hang around for years.  The lesions show up on T2 and FLAIR sequences of the MRI. The GAD contrast that is used in brain imaging will enhance "new" lesions that are about 40 days or newer on the T1 sequences.  The other thing that shows up on the T1 sequences is "Black Holes" or areas of nerve axon damage.   At this time, they think the black holes fill in with scar tissue and the brain atrophies.

[daddypix]

Bob thx for the input, thats probably why he is just scanning the brain first it might also have something to do with insurance im not sure good luck with your upcoming mri...what about the %age of time that a brain scan will pickup lesions in ms thx......agian for your reply........

[COBOB]

The symptoms sometimes have nothing to do with MS lesions that are visible on MRI.  Bilateral lower extremity symptoms seem pretty common in PwMS that have spinal cord lesions.  Brain lesions tend to have unilateral presentations.  Sometimes they start with just the brain and then do more studies if they need to.

My first MRI had 1 lesion and I had optic Neuritis.  Six months later, I pretty much had no symptoms that were really bothering me and I had 5 lesions.  I have my "6 months after diagnosis MRI" coming up next month.

Bob