A day of overexertion in the garden has resulted in 3 weeks of neck/upper back pain, radiating down back of right arm, right arm and hand weakness, tingling right hand with numb thumb, index and middle finger. MRI was performed last week. Can anyone translate this into layman's terms? All responses appreciated!

Multi-plane and multi-sequence MRI of the cervical spine is performed without contrast. The patient had radiographs of the cervical spine 6/18/13/

FINDINGS: There is straigtening and minimal reversal of the normal cervical lordosis. There is no cervical spine compression fracture. There is a T1 and T2 hyperintense lesion in the left aspect of the T2 vertebral body, which loses signal on inversion recovery imaging felt to reflect a hemangioma.
The craniocervical junction is open. The Atlantic-dental interval is maintained.

C2-C3 level demonstrates minimal bony ridging, and uncovertebral hhypertrophy, bilaterally. There is no significant spinal canal stenosis or foraminal encroachment.

C3-C4 level demonstrates facet and uncovertebral hypertrophy, with mild biforaminal encroachment but no significant spinal canal stenosis.

C4-C5 level demonstrates bony ridging, and asymmetric facet and uncovertebral hypertrophy with severe right sided foraminal encroachment, and mild left sided foraminal encroachment. There is mild ventral effacement of CSF but no significant spinal canal senosis at this level.

C5-C6 level reveals diffuse disc bulge, bony ridging, facet and uncovertebral hypertrophy, with very mild spinal canal stenosis circumferentially. There is severe biforaminal encroachment.

C6-C7 level reveals facet and uncovertebral hypertrophy, with minimal foraminal encroachment and no significant spinal canal stenosis.

T1-T2 level reveals bony ridging, and facet hypertrophy, with moderate right and mild left sided foraminal encroachment. There is no significant spinal canal stenosis.
There is no pre or paravertebral soft tissue swelling. On sagittal T2 and FLAIR imaging, although less well seen in the axial plane, there is increased signal within the C5-C6 cervical spinal cord, perhaps an area of myelomalacia. Post-Gadolinium imaging may be considered, as clinically indicated.
There is mild generalized diminished T1 marrow signal, in the cervical spine, which may reflect red marrow reconversion. Please follow up clinically. There is no bone marrow edema. There are mild end plate changes C5-C6 level.

IMPRESSION:

1. Straightening and minimal reversal of the normal cervical lordosis.

2. Bony facet and uncovertebral hypertrophy, and bony ridging, resulting in multi-level severe foraminal encroachment, most notable right C4-C5 level, bilateralC5-C6 and C6-C7 levels, with spinal canal stenosis, mild at C5-C6 level. There is also asymmetric right sided foraminal encroachment, in the upper thoracic region as described.
On sagittal T2 and FLAIR imaging, although less well seen in the axial plane, there is increased signal, within the C5-C6 cervical spinal cord, perhaps an area of myelomalacia. Post-Gadolinium imaging may be considered, as clinically indicated. There is no evidence of cervical spinal cord compression

3. Mild generalized diminished T1 marrow signal of uncertain etiology. Red marrow conversion is a consideration. Please correlate and follow up clinically.

4. The remainder of the findings are as described above.