Chronic Small Vessel Ischemic Disease

[Charlie T]

My MRI of the Brain shows the following results:

Chronic Small Vessel Ischemic Disease in the Periventricular White Matter, Adjacent to the Atrium and Trigones of the Lateral Ventricles.  

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN.  My doctor also says I may start having memory problems.

[Granny48]

My husband has anoxic encephalopathy, secondary seizure disorder, and chronic small vessel ischemic disease.  Can be be benefited bu mental rehabilitation?

[ichy]

hello, in 2006 i was struck by a severe headache like i never experienced before. since then it has not gone away,it is there 24hrs aday. also at that time i had numbness and tingling in both cheeks of my face, was very weak, felt faint,with pain and pressure in both ears,with electric chill type sensations shooting up both sides of my head. i went to the emergency room next day, they said to follow with my primary care doctor as they found nothing on the cat scan. since i have been seeing a neurologist who found central sleep apnea and is treating me for that and the headaches. i have had 2 mri's 3 yrs apart.i have been having episodes when i black out while beeing fully functional. my wife and others who have seen me at these times say i look like i am having strokes, as my face droops on both sides and i become incoherant and slur my words and begin to stagger. the first mri said there were no acute infarcts in the brain. there was minimal peri-ventrical white matter changes suggestive of smallvessel disease. the second mri report said there were lesions in the white matter of both frontal lobes and they do not exhibit diffusion abnormalities..also, they area of white matter had increased. the doctors seem to be at a loss to explain what is happening. i have never experienced anything like this before in my life. it all started with the headache i originaly got. do you have any suggestions about what is happening? thanks for any suggestions you can offer.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Small vessels are the smaller branches of th elarge vessels in the brain. A few examples of a large vessel would be internal carotic artery, anterior cerebral artery and the middle cerebral artery. Further branching leads to small vessels.

Chronic small vessel disease arises usually from ling standing hypertension or diabetes or some other inflammatory conditions of the blood vessels. This leads to blockage of the small vessels. The area distal to the blockage does not get adequate blood supply and cell death results.

On of the common manifestations of small vessel disease is the multi-infarct dementia (Binswanger's disease). The infarction (cell death) occurs at the junction of gray matter and white matter. Frontal lobe is usually involved.

Your MRI report suggests the abovementioned condition. Frontal lobe is the center of cognitive abilities, which includes memory. This condition is thought to be progressive.

Do you have high blood pressure of diabetes?

Regards

[sunshine221]

My question is my Mri reading came back and my doctors sais nothing is wrong however I am having a lot of proplems with my left arm  arm towards my breast for almost two years now. I have been bleeding from my right nose without any course.
This is what my MRI reading says as following:

A few tiny areas of T2 hyperintensity are noted in the periventricular and subcortical white matter of the cerebral hemispheres.
The ventricular size and position are within normal limits. Incidental polypoid mucosal
thickening is present in the right maxillary sinus. No extrinsic compression of the spinal
cord is seen , thin osteochondral bars are noted behind the discs between C4 and C7 without apparent cord impingement. Neural foramina are patent. No significant abnormality is seen in the dorsal spinal canal to explain the T8-9 dysesthesia.

can you explain what is above means and what could I be suffering from.
Thank you,
Sunshine.