confusion over contrast and no contrast

Hi

I have asked this question before and am going to ask it again, sorry all.............

If someone had 3 ms lesions in their brain and had a mri with contrast would it show the 3 lesions.

If they had mri without contrast would it still show the 3 lesions????????????

So if there are 3 lesions will they show up on mri with or without contrast??????????

I know the contrast makes the new lesions glow, but I would like to know if the mri will pick up the lesions regardless if contrast is used or not...........

I hope I have made sense,

Thanks again, Melissa

[Lulu54]

Hi Melissa,
Its perfectly ok to repeat yourself- we all do it! :-)

Yes, the MRI will show the lesions, regardless of whether there is contrast used.  The MRI without contrast will show all visible lesions, with no distinction betwen new and old lesions.

The MRI with contrast will show all visible lesions, with the new ones (around 30 days of appearance or so) absorbing the contrast and glowing.  

The MRI with contrast helps to distinguish the old from the new, and can also be used to establish separation in time for the Mcdondald criteria.  

Notice that i write *visible* lesions - we know that the current technology does not show everything.

It sounds to me from your question as if your MRI did not show three lesions that were there before - am I guessing correctly? It is quite possible for lesions to heal - remember our body is constantly trying to repair the damage, and does so regularly.  The repair job isn't perfect, but it can make the lesions less obvious to the MRI.

There is an excellent health page here on LESIONS COME AND LESIONS GO - you can get to the HP's by clicking of the yellow icon at the upper right side of this page

I hope this helps,
Lulu

[Melissa072]

Thanks for that, I do understand it now,   lols

No so far on  my mri's I have had no lesions, my mri's are clear and I have had a negative L.P.

I thought maybe a mri without contrast would not show up new lesions and that they may be missed.

I didn't realise a mri without contrast would show up all lesions, (or what shows anyway),and that the mri with contrast makes the newer ones glow.

Thanks for that

Melissa