brain MRI

I am 49 years and suffering on headache and dizziness.
Please explain my MRI result bloew:
There are numerous foci of hyperintense signal in the periventricular and subcortical white matter, bilaterally. The white matter lesions do not enhance on postcintrast images. Differential diagnosis includes demyelinating disease, vasculitis, Lyme disease and small vessel ischemic change.
Thank you.

[COBOB]

Welcome to the forum.

Lesions do not enhance means that they are more than about 40 days old.
Differential diagnosis mean a neurologist needs ti figure out if they are related to:
Demyelinating Disease (MS ADEM, etc.)
Vasculitis (not likely since there is no active lesions, blood tests for inflammation)
Lyme's disease (depends on other symptoms - Joint pain, ECM Rash, Lyme Titiers)
Small Vessel Ischemic Changes (TIA, High Cholesterol, etc.)

Bob

[sllowe]

Hi Eve,

Welcome to the forum. Did a neuro order the imaging?

As Bob alludes to, radiologist include differential diagnosis in their reports as a standard rule, along with their specific findings - yours being the foci and their location.

If an MD ordered the imaging you may be referred to a specialist. If this is a neurologist or another specialist, they will (hopefully) get to the bottom of the cause of the lesions. One of those causes may be what the radiologist included or it may be something altogether different.

Have you always had headaches, or migraines? These too cause brain changes.

I sure hope you are in good hands and doc gets to the bottom of what's going on. Let us know a little more if you are up to it and we'll do our best to help.

See you around,
Shell