Microangiopathic chronic ischemic disease?

[Sal9k]

I am 42, just had my first MRI for suspected MS, this was the diagnosis, microangiopathic chronic ischemic disease?  Why can I not find ANY specific info. not even at the Mayo!  What is it? What does it mean?  I told my doctor I feel like what little intelligence I had is diminishing by the day!

[Sal9k]

Thank you for all the comments!  I do not have a history of high cholesterol, blood pressure or diabetes and because of the diagnosis, my gp rechecked my cholesterol just to make sure.  I am convinced I had a TIA a week and a half ago, I was very confused for 1-2 hours in the morning and made the most bizarre mistakes.  But as I've been experiencing mild confusion for more than a year and it has noticeably increased in the past 6 months, I didn't make anything of it at the time.  My gp has suggested a daily baby aspirin regimen, but nothing more intense.  So while I gets dumber by the day, I'm trying to find a good neurologist, not an easy task in my small town.  Thank you all again, I appreciate it!

[helen41]

I seem to have a similar disorder without any risk factors for the disease. It first showed up for me at the same age- I am 54 now. It often seems to end up being a nondiagnosis. For me. I was quite well and working for many years until recently I began to have symptoms again.
What these forums have taught me is neuro problems are all on a continuum. Some people have abnormal MRI's with no noticeable impairment, some are very affected, some improve and some continue to struggle.
There are others in the "surviving neurological limboland" forum with similar diagnoses, plus some here whose symptoms evolved and they ended up with an MS diagnosis.

What is probably most important is what symptoms generated the MRI?

There is a section on the right called health pages written by very admirable, knowledgeable people. You should check it out, plus I'll add one more link for you that I found useful http://yassermetwally.wordpress.com/2009/12/15/the-mri-white-disease-dilemma/

[RedFlame]

Like ess said, I would be really cautious about accepting an MRI report that blames changes on any type of ischemia.  As I have learned on this site;  Only 30% fo people age 60 show any ischemic changes on an MRI and the probability drops each year.  

Do you have high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol?  Those things can possibly cause some ischemia.  

Many of us have MRI's that say the same thing in various wording.  Some docs just explain our symptoms away.  My first Neuro blamed some things on my weight, she also said in her report that I was too old to have MS.

If you think something is wrong keep looking

Red

[essdipity]

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Actually, there is quite a lot on the web about this disorder. Here is a post from MedHelp's Expert Forum on neurology that explains this succinctly:

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Neurology/microangiopathic-disease-gliosis/show/330548

You don't say what your symptojms have been, but unless you have a history of high blood pressure or other vascular problems, I'd be very leery of this MRI report. You are way too young to have what often is a symptomless disease of older people. We often hear of this diagnosis being fobbed off on people who are eventually diagnosed (correctly) with MS.

Not saying this is the case with you, as I have no way of knowing. Just saying that this bears more investigation. Can you tell us more about yourself?

ess

[johnnymutt]

Ok, here's what I've found so far. For the microangiopathic or "Microvascular disease", Aka small vessel disease, here's a quick link on EHow.

http://www.ehow.com/about_5390847_microvascular-disease-symptoms.html

And here's an article on Small vessel chronic ischemic disease

http://www.ehow.com/about_4740835_small-vessel-ischemic-disease.html

Sorry, other than what I just  read on the subject, I have no experience with this. I hope this helps some.

If I'm way off here, I hope someone comes along and corrects me.