MRI

Hi to All,
I am desperate to gain some adive on my husband, two years ago he started his first attack as I call them. it started with pain  in the feet that was excrutiating and was rushed to hospital and given pain relief he was unable to walk for a week and it slowly went away.
I noticed a great change in him, mood swings and dragging of his right foot, after about 3 months it became so much worse, he lost most of his movement and cognitive abilities to perform simple tasks and speech was impaired he is also getting extreme electric shocks throughout his body, and now constant muscle twitching. in and out of hospital and they just thought he was depressed and gave him antideppressants, which sent him into a phsycotic episode and was rushed back to hospital again.
I am watching my husband deteriorate over the last two years, we finally convinced the doctors to send him to a Nuero and finally he has had an MRI... the results are as follow:
Conclusion,
MRI features show multiple deep white matter HIGH Flair signal intensities, some periventrucular and subtle features at the left corpus callosum suggestive of demyelination. However, there can be association with previous trauma HT.
clinial correlation is advised. NO posterior fossa or cord lesions, minor degenerative change in the cervical spine with moderate degenerative change in the thoracic spine assoiciated with small disc herniation but mild features in the lower lumber spine. No specific cause for radiculopathy detected.

I would love some input, the Nuero is not really concerned and ordered a CNS blood test and EEG...any help would be appreciated, as there has been two years it is hard to put it all down here
Marie

[Christopher R Newey, DO]

Thanks for using the forum. I am happy to address your questions, and my answer will be based on the information you provided here. Please make sure you recognize that this forum is for educational purposes only, and it does not substitute for a formal office visit with a doctor.

Without the ability to examine and obtain a history, I can not tell you what the exact cause of the symptoms is. However I will try to provide you with some useful information.

The changes noted on the MRI may be small vessel disease, which are plaques in the small vessels of the brain. This is not an uncommon process in the brain and increases with age. This is not a disease in and of itself but rather is a reflection of unhealthy blood vessels, damaged by years of plaque build-up. This is most often due to a combination of several factors including the following: high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, and high cholesterol. If these factors are well controlled, the damage to the brain can be stabilized and further damage prevented.

Other causes of plaques in the brain can be migraine. People with migraine often have plaques on their MRI that are of unclear cause or significance.

Other causes of plaques on MRI can usually be distinguished based on history and symptoms, such as symptoms of neurologic deficit (for example arm weakness or difficulty walking etc). These can also be distinguished based on the MRI appearance. These include, but are not limited to, multiple sclerosis, other demyelinating disease, and inflammatory processes such as vasculitis.

The different causes can be determined to some extent by interpretation of various sequences of the MRI. It sounds like your neurologist does not think the pattern of white spots in your brain are typical of multiple sclerosis. Other investigations are sometimes necessary to distinguish the various causes of white matter lesions. A lumbar puncture is sometimes necessary, in which fluid from around the spine and brain is taken out and analyzed with various tests.

Ultimately the MRI should be taken in the clinical context.

Thank you for this opportunity to answer your questions, I hope you find the information I have provided useful, good luck.