MRI

I was discussing the results of my brain MRI with a friend who became very distraught because there were lesions found in the frontal lobe white matter and also within the cerebral peduncle ( which I don't know what that is). She says that it could be signs of future dementia?  When I began to research it just confused me more. There are a million things that brain lesions could be from.  Also, the doctor wrote small vessel damage from ischemic injury. I guess what i would like to know is what to expect from my doctor as far as tests.  Especially, with all the talk in the news now about alzheimers.  I am 43 years old and have a large family history of strokes, epilepsy, and auto immune diseases from schleroderma to arthritis. My father has had 2 heart attacks, and recently diagnosed with lung cancer, my mother has had the same.  I did have a postive ANA for systemic auto immune. I just became so frustrated that I did not dig deeper.  I want to have an idea of what to ask my doctor to test me for since it seems that my communication with my current neurologist is not very open. Who wants to see 5 or 10 years later that the MRI was showing the signs of a disease that could have been treated early. What exactly is small vessel damage from ischemic injury???  The MRI was done due to pain ( not headache) on left side of head along with fatique and muscle weakness.  With so many illnesses running in my family I am concerned.

[Octarine]

Hey, Invyzabul, your post would have been answered long before now if you were on the MS forum.  You're asking lots of good questions that our members would be helping you with.  I don't have the knowledge to do that, but please try reposting to that forum.  Good luck.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

Small vessel ischemic disease is also known as white matter disease. This is usually seen in patients with history of long standing headaches, migraines, strokes, diabetes, High BP, history of smoking or alcoholism and also aging.
I would suggest you to get yourself screened for risk factors for stroke because there is some evidence that patients with small vessel ischemic disease are at an increased risk for strokes.
Therefore it is important that you ensure that you keep your BP, cholesterol, blood sugar and body weight under control.
The chances of dementia are more if the brain damage continues and there are large infarcts in the brain.

Thanks