? about MRI Findings

[Mami Grande]

My dad (58yrs old) recently had an MRI done because of "Frontal headaches, and scalp and tongue presthesias.  The findings and impressions were as follows:

Finding:  Small foci of increased signal intensity are nonspecific and are located in the periventricular white matter bilaterally.

Impression:  Findings consistent with, but not entirely specific for, chronic microvascular white-matter changes.

Is it possible that this is an indication of MS?  Any insight provided would be of great help.  Thanks!

[JonM]

What symptoms caused your father to get an MRI?  DXing MS is not generally done from an MRI reading, which by the way sounds inconclusive at best for MS.  Usually the readings would talk of "lesions", "white spots" and indications of "demyleniating disease".

[Mami Grande]

Thanks for responding.  My dad's symptoms that promoted the MRI were headaches in the front part of his head along with scalp tenderness and numbness on his tongue.  
Other things that he has going on but weren't the reason for the MRI  is severe muscle pain and weakness in his legs and arms.  When he describes the pain he says that it feels like he has worked out his muscles to extreme exhaustion.  He has lived with this for the past 2-3 years now but no diagnosis has been made other than to say "myositis"
When I saw the results from his MRI, I began looking up some of the terms on the Internet and had read somewhere that "white matter changes could be an indicator of MS."  I am really searching to put a name on what is going on with my dad and it is maddening.
Thanks again for your response earlier.

[karzme]

Has he been tested for a stroke? Does he have vision probs? What about balance probs? Tingling/ numbness in any body part? It doesn't seem like Ms of course we don't know everything. But with MS, it is usually mentioned with these symptoms. Headaches aren't normal signs of MS.

[JonM]

I agree with karzme, the symptoms you list do not sound like MS.  Headaches and muscle pain in the abscense of other symptoms just don't sound like it.  You mentioned his symptoms in his head, has he been carefully tested for lyme disease?  Read other posts on this web site about lyme, it is one of the most misdiagnosed diseases.

[Quixotic1]

Hi, the impression of the MRI was changes consistent with small scarrings like from hypertension, age, migraines or vasculitis.  These are just examples.  MS is not a vascular disease.  The numbness he has in his face and tongue may well be from migraine-like events.  Migraines do not always have headaches with them.  And those spots may well be normal for his age.

The weakness/fatigue in his arms and legs, though is not normal.  Myositis should be verified with specific blood tests for antibodies and a muscle biopsy.  Has your father seen a neuromuscular specialists?

Quix

[Mami Grande]

Thank you so much for responding.  I feel like I'm really grasping at straws trying to help my Dad figure out what is going on with him.  Since his MRI the headaches, scalp tenderness and tongue numbness have subsided.  His pain and weakness in his muscles are really a big mystery and have become quite debilitating.  It is difficult for him to walk across a room without feeling exhausted and having to sit down.  To compound things he also suffers from atrial fibrillation (which he is scheduled for a heart ablation soon to try and fix), hypertension and sleep apnia (which he was recently been fitted with a CPAP - i think that's what it's called)
So far as his muscle pain and weakness are concerned here is a run down of what he is experiencing and a summary of who he has been seen by and the tests performed (please forgive any misspellings):

The pain is in his legs, joints (hips), shoulders, neck and feet.  His arms do not hurt but he has lost strength in them.  His skin is becoming very sensitive to the touch and just his clothes brushing up against it stings.  
The only way he knows how to describe the pain is like he has exercised his muscles like crazy for 4-5 intense hours.

Drs seen:
Rheumotologist
Neurologist

Tests:
EMG
CK
Reactive Protein
Aldoase

Only the CK and Aldoase showed as being out of normal range and they were 615 and 11.3 respectfully.
As far as diagnosis none really has been made other than to say that he definitely has something and that it is possible that whatever it is hasn't progressed far enough for something to be done about it.  As his daughter that is very hard for me to accept and I'm tired of just sitting around waiting for Dr's to do something while my dad's quality of life is on a downward spiral.  I am really searching for someone to give me some insight or direction.  The Rheumotologist  was the one who said myositis but I think he only said this just to mean that my Dad has muscle pain not really as a diagnosis.  I realize that this is a forum for MS and I started here because of his MRI results --  if you have any suggestions as to where might be a better place to post please let me know.  I really appreciate you taking the time to read this lenghty post and for helping me out .  

[Mami Grande]

I also forgot to mention that he had a muscle biopsy from his shoulder and the results were that there was "something" there but they can't really tell what.