5 burnt out plaques... I guess that's just a good way of saying it as any other (ie - non-active),

There's several things that can cause demyelination. That's why a dx boils down to clinical observation. Lesions caused by ischemic related stuff don't look any different than lesions caused by ms stuff, nutritional deficiencies, direct viral invasion, hereditary stuff, or even stuff like carbon monoxide toxicity.

I'd be inclined to say I don't have MS, but those lesions keep increasing in number and there's no other explanation. I've been told I'm textbook MS, and I really was initially. But after 22 years and I'm still walking and running, it's hard to believe. Last MRI was in 2003 - over 30 lesions.

I digress. The locations are, well, just locations. Burnt out, I assume, means inactive (lighter shade of gray as opposed to white, which is active). I have no idea what an old change in demyelination is, unless it's in reference to a non-active lesion. Non specific means - see above discussion. Most radiologists will say this because they don't know you. Multi-focal - yeap, it could be caused by different things. "No new lesions" is good.

Tom