HELP!

[Megavolt]

I just recieved my MRI results.

Impression:

   1. T7/8, 4mm disc extrusion impinging the ventral right cord.

   2. T3/4 and T8/9, show small right central disc osteophyte complex. no cord compression.

   3. A 1.2cm hyperintense focus within T7 vertebral body seen only on T2 and T2 fat sat images ( not seen on T1 images). Correlate with bone scan.


The MRI was ordered when I complained about moderate to sever loss of coordination in my legs and weakness in my left side. I've also experienced mild tremors.

I have about 4 weeks 'til I see my neurologist to discuss the findings and I was wondering if someone could translate this into english for me.

[TpaulT]

I forgot to address your other things. I don't know what an osteophyte complex is and it's quite confusing to me that they would have said "disc osteophyte complex" since osteophytes are on bones and not discs. Discs can calcify (turn into bone-like) though, and so much so as to even show up on an xray (normally discs are invisible to xray). Osteophytes and disc extrusions are normal parts of aging but also of injury and some diseaes other than arthritis. Even though those conditions are normal for those of us over 40, they can be quite painful or even debilitating, rarely paralyzing. The hyperintense on the vertebral body I think means the bone of your spine in that location showed up brighter on the MRI than is expected and that they suggest a bone scan to see if there is osteoblast (bone repair) taking place, which could indicate an abnormal process, or arthritis or calcium loss/osteoporosis, or generally higher risk for fracture

Paul T

[TpaulT]

I'm not qualified to comment but that usually doesn't stop me. From what I can gather (I'm reading alot of medical journals lately) an extrusion is a disc area that is more pronounced but often less sizeable, than a disc "bulge." The next step after an extrusion is a hernia. An extrusion has not breached the disc outer shell whereas with a hernia, the shell is breached and inner disc material exits the disc.

I too have a small extrusion and it causes sciatica. I have a hernia at t-9-10 which feels much worse than the extrusion in the lumbar, but that's not to say a hernia is always more painful than an extrusion. With these MRI's the docs must go by clinical exam (what you say how you feel) more so than the pictures. The pictures rather just confirm or corroborate, or sometimes don't, what you say. The pictures are good for showing a doctor where to operate (if you are losing your life to this), or where to give steroid shots.

I could be wrong about any of this but like I said, I've read and read and read lately, trying to make sense of why my ribs hurt and half my back is numb and the numbness is moving around my side and to my stomach, with corresponding underlying terrible pain. Leg pains too. I'm quite dismayed since I'm not sure how long I can hold on to my very physical career.

Paul T.