Lesions+M.R.I.

[CinCity44]

Can you have M.S. without having a positive M.R.I,How about a pineal cyst?

[Quixotic1]

Just a quickie here.  Pineal cysts are incredibly common in the normal, healthy population.  I learned that a third of all people have one, but this study found 23% of the people they studied had one - all were asymptomatic.  Pineal cysts are almost always without any symptoms and cause no problems.   Yes, rarely they can act up, but would NOT cause problems that look like demyelination/MS.

There is NO association between MS and pineal cysts.

http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/content/abstract/28/9/1706

As for having MS with a normal MRI.  There are several views on this.

First you have to make the distinction between the lesions of MS and the lesions seen on an MRI machine.  MS can only occur when the nerves of the central nervous system are damaged, so there are always lesions (areas of damage) in MS.  MRI lesions are just those lesions big enough to show up on a particular MRI machine.

The scientific answer is that "Yes" MS can occur with a normal MRI.  You need to understand that MRIs can lonly pick up lesions that they are strong enough to image.  We know by rationale thinking and experience that some lesions are invisible to most MRI machines.  As the machines get stronger and stronger they pick up more lesions.  Most of us with MS here know that we don't see a spot on the MRI that matches each of our symptoms, yet our symptoms are proof that some damage to the nerves has been done whether or not it shows up on the MRI.

HOWEVER - you may not be able to get a "diagnosis" of MS when the MRI is negative.  Most neuros require at least one or two lesions before they are comfortable giving a diagnosis.

Your chances of truly having MS go way down when the MRI is negative.  As it stays negative for several years, the chance that you have MS goes down further.

BUT, we also need to examine the strength of the MRI machine and the sophistication of the software running it.  If you had your MRIs on an old or very weak machine, no one can say with certainty that you really don't have lesions.  I have told this story over and over again, but it speaks for itself.  On a 1.5T ("T" stands for Tesla, a unit of the magnetic strength of the machine) my spine was negative for lesions.  One month later on a 3T machine I had SIX lesions, two the brainstem, two the cervical spine and two in the thoracic spine.  these six lesions were older than one month so they had truly been invisible on the weaker machine.

There is an article here about ways in which a person with MS can have a "falsely" negative MRI:

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple%20Sclerosis/How-Can-a-Person-with-MS-Have-a-Negative-MRI/show/161?cid=36

Now this may have been confusing.  Please ask questions.

Quix

[bambi61]

I have lesions and I also have a pineal cyst. I have not yet been diagnosed, as I do not have a positive lumbar puncture. It does drive me nuts, however, how they always brush off the pineal cyst as though it is nothing *(as it usually is), but it can cause many of the same symptoms you may be experiencing.