Hi Jeanne. I am not a doctor and I haven't stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in over a month. But I can give you a very brief translation of what they are saying. I am not a professional...so listen to the professionals you are paying for their opinions. My opinion is probably worth exactly what you are paying for it. With that out of the way...
Quote:
Originally Posted by poormommy
There are five small T2 hyperintense fooci scattered within the left periventricular white matter. These are variable size ranging from a couple of millimeters up to approxiamately 4.5 mm. There is also a thin rim of periventricular T2 increased signal at the posteerior aspect of the lateral ventricle on the left. There is a single 9.8 mm oval-shape T2 hyperintense focus within the posterior aspect of the right periventricular white matter.
|
A "T2 hyperintense foci" is a really fancy doctor word for a "bright spot". What they are saying is that there are 5 bright spots on one of the scans. You commonly hear them referred to as "lesions" here, but without secondary correlation is is impossible to determine exactly what they are. Generally, bright spots reflect areas where the myelin has been damaged. Myelin is the protective sheath that surrounds bundles of nerves. Areas where it has been damaged (by any cause) will show up as bright spots. Neurologists use clues like the size, shape, location, and whether the bright spot is "enhanced" when contrast is added" to determine what might be causing them
The text you quoted also describes the size and location of the spots(periventricular white matter is a very common location for MS lesions), and also mentions a "rim" of brightness along the edge of the ventricle, which is also common in MS and some other diseases.
Quote:
Originally Posted by poormommy
The findings certainly could be related to multiple sclerosis though other demyelinating etiologies including vascultits, chronic ischemic microangiopathy as well as infectious etiology such as Lyme's disease cannot be totally excluded. Clinical correlation is necessary.
|
This kind of language is very common in an MRI looking for MS. Typically, the doctor will send you for the MRI with a request to the radiologist to look for evidence of MS. The radiologist can see spots, which are in locations, shapes, and sizes that could be MS, but the radiologist cannot tell what is causing the spots, so they tell the doctor to clinically correlate the spots with other evidence to determine what is causing them. That other evidence can be spinal tap results, blood test results, clinical review of your symptoms, etc.
One thing to look at before you go back to the doctor is the McDonald Diagnostic Criteria (wikipedia has a good discussion of it). It is what the doctor will use to determine if he can diagnose you with MS. In my case, when the doctor told me I didn't have enough lesions in the right places to give me a MS dx, I thought she was saying she didn't think the lesions looked like MS. Instead, two years later, when more lesions showed up, I got a dx because I had satisfied the requirement for disease progression over time.
Hope that helps...Good luck!