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mri results brain cervical lumber with and without contrast.....any advice???????

Mri of the brain normal with and without contrast.
mri of the cervical spine with and without contrast



Question of a solitary area of abnormal signal within the substance of the cervivcal spinal cord at the c-2 level along the right lateral aspect. While possibly artifactual, this could represent a small solitary area of demyelination.

Cervical spinal cord shows no other questionable areas of abnormal signal and no abnormal enhancement.

Multilevel cervical spondyosis from c-3-c-4 through c-6-c-7 as detailed above.

Saw the nuero on Friday said he would like to repeat the cervical mri again in a month and possibly due a lumbar puncture to rule out ms. I currently take 100mg zoloft daily alond with 100mg of lyrica twice daily.
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215385 tn?1201802901
Hello again.  Glad that info might be of some help.  The guys here are great and have been really supportive both mentally, emotionally and with good advice and guidance.

I too have been through the 'diagnosis' mill.  I orginally went to my doctor thinking I had period pain.  Strange as I don't get periods because of the depo.  Anyway, after 6 weeks of burning and cramping pains I had had enough.  Went to Dr, put on tablets for infection.  Tablets didn't work, sent to hospital to Gynecology (I had cervical cancer 3 years ago). I was told that the cancer must have come back and spread to my ovaries...nice!  Sent for a ultrasound scan.  Went to dr for results, limped in as by now I'd lost all feeling in my leg and pelvis.  Sent straight from there to hospital..again.  Prepared for surgery and told it MUST be a prolapsed disc.  No prolapsed disc showed on the mri but a number of lesions did. Back to hospital for a week of tests, mri, lp (from hell) etc. Symptoms keep getting worse, keep coming and going, new ones keep saying 'hello',old ones I hope will never return.

And it goes on...and on...and on.....

I'm now waiting for my appointment with an MS specialist. In the meantime like you I have the twitching and jumping limbs...last night was a record, my arm came about 6 inches off the bed..freaked both me and my husband out!

I hope we've tried to give you some of the answers you are looking forward.  As i said before this is a great place if you are looking to talk to others going through what you are and I've found it's good to talk...it really helps.

Stay in touch....and take care.

Em
Helpful - 0
230625 tn?1216761064
My symptoms started with bilateral tingling/numbness in my feet and hands as well.  My neuro initially thought that my problems were possibly disc related in my neck, thus the c-spine MRI.

I'm sorry your mother has been dealing with this.  How has she been doing?  I can understand how you are concerned.

I'm not on any meds, so I don't know about the zoloft/lyrica side effects.  Have you tried something like Miralax for the constipation?  

Is the "jumping nerve" feeling like a muscle twitch?   I've been experiencing those a lot lately.

Take care and I know how hard it is for you with the fatigue and kids.  I'm a mother to 4 kids and am in my 40s as well.

Take care and I hope you can get some answers soon!  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thanks for the information this really helps. This is only the first mri I have ever had. My mother had ms for 30 years. I am a bit concerned. Started to have occassional numbness and tingling in both hands and feet. Also I have been having headaches occassionally. I am fatigued alot. I try very hard to push myself. I am a mother of 2 and I am 41 years old. Occassionally I can feel my nerve jumping under my skin. That kinda feels weird. Some days I just feel off. I guess this is a wait a see thing. Oh I forgot to mention since I am on zoloft I have been constipated. The lyrica gives me dry mouth so I tend to drink tons of water. Sometimes muscles will really ache. Not sure how to take all this in but I am giving it my all.
Helpful - 0
215385 tn?1201802901
HI, hope you are doing ok?  Not seen you here before so welcome.

I asked a similar question last week as I was told they had found multiple lesions in my spine around the same area as you when they did the mri with contrast.  When they repeated it 2 weeks later without contrast they found nothing.  I asked one of the guys on the forum what this meant.  Below is the very thorough response....

*****

The first image is done without contrast.  This technique will show old lesions that are big enough to be seen by the power of that MRI machine.  WE KNOW that many lesions in MS are too small to be seen.  If the newer, more powerful MRI with a 3 Tesla magnet is used many more lesions will be seen (by at least 25%) than on the older 1.5 Tesla machines.  The classic old, mature MS lesion is a little bit oval, will have well-defined borders and will be in the white matter.  Characteristic places are subcortical, peri-ventricular and in the corpus callosum.  The classic MS lesion will also have it's long axis perpendicular to the ventricles of the brain.  Also, important and very symptomatic lesions are found in the brainstem, the cervical and the thoracic spine.  The spinal cord ends at the bottom of the thoracic spine, so there is no such thing as a lumbar spinal cord lesion in the normal spine.

These scarred lesions will show up as light, bright areas.  These are the classic, MS lesions or "plaques."

Now the very old, scarred ones that have been reabsorbed will show up as a black (empty) space or black hole.  If there are many of these empty areas the brain will contract around them eventually and show up as a loss of brain volume.  This is also know as brain atrophy.  This is particularly seen in the progressive types of MS.

However, a newly active MS lesion may not show up on a regular MRI because the area of nerves, though inflamed, is still pretty much intact and has normal brain density.  On the MRI it will look like normal brain.  Without contrast it won't show up and will be missed.

When the next phase of MRI is done the contrast is in the blood vessels.  So the large blood vessels show up, too.   Anywhere the tiny blood blood vessels are more dilated than usual, as in inlfammation, the areas will "highlight"  or "enhance."  They show up as even brighter.  So new lesions will show up as enhancing, or active.  Also, older lesions, that have undergone new attack right around them will show an enhancing rim or ring.  When you compare the regular MRI to the Contrast MRI you can see this reactivated, old lesion.

That's how some reports can call active lesions or some report no newly enhancing lesions.  Also since some new ones heal they can be compared to old films and show they disappeared.  In addition, between different sets of MRI done after a time has passed, the radiologist can see an increase in old and in new activity.
****

Hope this answers some of your questions.

Em
Helpful - 0
230625 tn?1216761064
Hi and welcome!

What symptoms have you been experiencing?    Does your neuro think any of your symptoms are due to the spondyosis?

I'm wondering if waiting one month would be sufficient time to repeat your c-spine MRI or if it should be repeated at a longer interval?  But, I'm not that knowledable in that area.

When my neuro found the 2 "MS-suspicious" brain lesions, he immediately scheduled an LP.  I was willing to get an answer quickly.  My LP ended up being "normal" and I am still seeking a diagnosis.  So, just to let you know that the results may/may not help get a diagnosis.

I wish you the best!  Take care! Pat
Helpful - 0
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