White matter ischemia foci

[Lesley1953]

I had four CT scans and an MRI of my brain without having any clinical showings.  The results are very worrisome.  They show, white matter ischemia foci, decreased attenuation in the left centrum semiovale plus the same anteiorly in the left frontal parietal white matter and in the left posterior frontal centrum semiovale and an infarct in the left centrm semiovale that appears old.  Having all of these results, why are there no symtoms currently or in the past?  All the readings say, there is too much of all of this for a women my age,55 years old and with no signs or symptoms.  No vascular disease, no MS, NOTHING!!! So what is going on with my white matter?  What could possibly cause the ischemia? Is there any treatment or cause for alarm?  My Dr.s only feel a need to treat symptoms and I don't have any...But none the less it's scary and I deserve answers!

                                                                                            Thanks,  A very concerned Trauma Nurse

[Lesley1953]

I had migraines as a child and hence grew out of them.  My mom suffered the same and now my daughter and by the age of 18 they stopped.  I've had four back surgery's since 2002 and after my first surgery ( placing two rods along my spine) , I woke up in recovery as a paraplegic.  After four hours, my left leg came back plus my pelvis but the right leg stayed very weak with a drop foot.  My four small toes have curled, to give you an idea what area was damaged.  They removed the rods to see if I could regain the right leg but to no avail, so the rods went back in.
So it makes me wonder if , during the first surgery, I threw a small blood clot, hence the old infarct discovered left sided,and right leg.  If this was a possibility for the paralysis,  why not do a ct scan then 2003 before doing second major surgery removing the rods as that was the problem.
Besides any of that, I've had no headaches since childhood, and back then we put it down to being heredity.  Three generations.
But that's it. with me, no headaches no dizziness, no weakness, nothing.  AND they took the first CT scan as a joke while we were working-2009.  After that they did three more and the MRI within 8 days.  My dr. retired so hence I have my chart and found these result.
Please help in finding the explanation!!!  Both of my parents lived to the age of 85 and 93 with perfect speech and memory.
A pt. in emerg broke my back in 3 places, 2002, so hence all the surgery's.  Therefore I really don't want to have to worry about my brain when my time, at the moment, is using all my faculties learning how to walk.....
A huge thank-you for taking the time to give my case some thought.  And so far love your answers, just find out more PLEASE?  Lesley 1953 Magoo

[tschock]

Yes, you DO deserve some answers...and we are going to help with that.

White matter lesions can also be seen in many other infectious (Lyme disease is a good example) and inflammatory conditions (sarcoidosis, connective tissue diseases which cause vasculitis in the brain).
Although I'm sure you would have experienced some sort of symptom by now.
There IS the possibility that you may start to experience symptoms once something is triggered. Possibly a stoke...I don't like saying that, but you want answers, and your doctor isn't telling.
They also appear quite frequently in migraine sufferers.
Do you suffer from them? I'm only asking because I don't know what led you to have the 4 CTs and the MRI in the first place.

I actually came across an article today ( while finding info for another person ) that said that these problems can stem from birth, ( possibly hereditary )and the person can go through life without ever having any symptoms...and the only reason they know about it is because of having an MRI for other reasons. These have also been found during autopsies on  young children...hence the knowing it's possible to be born this way.

I'm not through yet. I'll dig out the books and see what else I can find.
Very interesting case you have, to say the least.