What are Virchow-Robin Spaces

[shawnie31]

Hi there, just received my full neuro's report when I saw him June 3. He doesn't think it's MS, said to repeat MRI in 1yr that my spots could be Virchow-Robin spaces. I continue to have muscle weakness in both legs and arms, tingling to the scalp, face feet and hands. I also get needle like pokes to my toes and fingertips. Urinary issues, coordination and loss of balance, lightheaded etc.. I didn't want to post everything but I'm just not sure what to think at this point.

I have a referral for another neuro's opinion which will be through tele-conferencing. That will be ok I won't have to travel 9hrs. Many tests have been done which all came back neg. LP, B12, Lupus, Lymes and Fibro.

If anyone has any thoughts to share, I appreciate your opinions..

[weenus]

Hi, I tried to email but couldn't so here goes. I have all of your symtoms. I also just had a MRI. The findings are : The right temporal horn and chordial fissure were slightly enlarged--thr right hippocampal head smaller--less defined anatomy. The R. Fornix is smaller also. I have Prominant Virchow-Robin perivascular spaces but no tnrue focal white matter diease. Gadoinium system w/a hypoplastiec right vertebral and fetal posterior cerebral arteries arteries suggesting this is congenital. I don't have a degree in nuerology but I do know that given the fact that I have all the symtoms I have. My MRI doesn't sound normal to me, despite what the nurse said when I called the office. I have the mri report in my hands along with a CD of my last MRI. My symtoms include: Cognitive Dysfunction, Memory Loss, Dizziness, Speech inter ruptions, numbness , heaviness of limbs, face draws up and arms have too,insomnia, urinary problems, cronic constipation, bp drops, visual changes etc. Many of these come and go. any insight would be appreciated------my Dr. has diagnosed me with Episodic Spinal Cerebellar Ataxia (not sure of which type) but was suppose to be non progressive.I tested negative for this and my Dr. isn't keeping an open eye to the possibility of a misdiagnosis. My neice has Hereditary Spastic Parapalegia which is very simular to my diease. It took the all her life until the age of 35 to diagnose this ,had she found out earlier , they Drs. could have helped her more. I feel I have MS or what she has.

[shawnie31]

Hey you guys... just reading your posts from work. I will have to re-read again at home tonight. Thanks for much for the feed back.

I'm now awaiting a call from another neuro..

Take care... :)

Shelley

[Sarahsmom46]

I found a 2008 article that might be of interest with regard to VRS and mention of early sign of MS.

"PostulatedI Role of Vasoactive Neuropeptide-Related Immunopathology of the Blood Brain Barrier and Virchow-Robin Spaces in the Aetiology of Neurological-Related Conditions"

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2 643053

[Sarahsmom46]

Thanks so much for that article.  I have only seen the previews of this article when I tried to google VRS.  How did you get a hold of the entire article?  Good going!

VRS was a challenge to find information on.  When they mentioned that a few of my "lesions' might be attributed to VRS in the clinical trial that I was in, they gave me the impression that they don't have any significance.  Hmm....Interesting.  If you guys find out any more on this, please post it.  I have another friend who just asked me about it as it showed up in her MRI results as well.

Julie

[Quixotic1]

Hi, You have asked a question that has come up more than once.  Several people have had prominent Robin-Virchow spaces noted on their MRIs.  In ALL instances they have been reassured that this is a normal finding.  But......

First, if you want to understand what the spaces are you need to know that the brain is completely surrounded by membranes that protect it from the outside world.  However, it can't be completely cut off, because blood vessels need to pierce through this membrane to nourish the brain.  Where the blood vessels pierce it causes a little space as the membrane wraps around the vessel.  Think about plastic wrap around a piece of fruit.  It you poke through it with a stick there will be a slight area where the wrap bends inward with the stick.  This leaves a tiny space at the junction of the stick and the wrap.

Why do some people have dilated spaces?  The answer we are all given is that, "Well, sometimes they do."  But, there are also pathologic conditions where the spaces are dilated, thus showing up more prominently on MRI.  The most remarkable of these is in brain atrophy.  The brain tissue shrinks and pulls aways from the network of blood vessels ever so slightly.  This causes a larger "gap" at the place where the blood vessels pass through the brain's outer membrane.  Okay, this makes sense.

BUT (here it comes) one of the effects that MS has on the brain is to cause the brain to atrophy faster than that of the healthy person.  Our brains shrink.  So it does stand to reason that Robin-Virchow spaces could appear dilated in a person with MS before there is obvious atrophy.  We have a member who has dealt with this question before and told her prominent RV spaces were inconsequential.  She and I both did some research and found at least one study that concluded that dilated Robin-Virchow spaces were far more common in MS and they recommended that further studies be done to verify this and that it might serve as another MRI marker to aid in diagnosing MS.

Here is a study:

http://www.ajnr.org/cgi/reprint/23/3/376.pdf

However, I would emphasize that this is the only place I have seen this.  Still, it makes a whole lotta sense to me.

Quix

[Lulu54]

there is no *at* sign in the address. If you can't get this to work, send me a pm and I'll send it to you that way.  

[Lulu54]

here's the whole address again - if it gets bleep ed again, the starred part is

SCIschemia  dot html

of course use a period in place of the word dot

http://sci.rutgers.edu/index.php?page=viewarticle&afile=10_January_2002***@****

[shawnie31]

thanks my dear, I will look that up!!

[Lulu54]

Shawnie,

I'mm sorry you don't have any answers yet.  When i was looking for more on VRS I found this spinal injury site with some great explanations of our entire spinal cord/csf system.  This might be of interest to you.
http://sci.rutgers.edu/index.php?page=viewarticle&afile=10_January_2002***@****

I hope someone elsee comes along with some suggestions for you.
as always,
Lulu