[boo68]

I wondered if anyone can help me please, I've been having Peripheral neuropathy symtoms in my hands and arms, sometimes my legs for a long while. I had an mri and my neurologist has sent me a letter and to my doctor with the following;-

Brain was normal as expected, but has a few subcortical (sp?) white matter hyerintensity signal changes non specific and non characterist to demyelination.

I haven't got a clue what it means and I'm not seeing the neuro again until August
Xx

[SallyC]

So far I'd say, it looks like you don't have MS? You
may have a small lesion, but not demyelinating.

That's all it says to me, but I'm not a
radiologist, so don't take it to the bank.

[TXBatman]

White matter hyper intensities is a really fancy way to say that you have a few bright spots in your MRI that the radiologist would not expect to be there. Non-specific means that he doesn't have a cause or source for what they are, and non characteristic to demyelination means they are not in shapes or configurations typically seen in diseases that attack myelin such as MS. So as Sally said, the good news is that the radiologist reading the scan is saying that the MRI doesn't clearly show MS (or any other demyelinating disease).

However...be aware that radiologists are purely looking at the scan in front of them, and usually do not have the clinical file to review while reading your scan. So what would not otherwise be evidence of MS to the radiologist, MAY in fact be seen as evidence to your doctor, who has the knowledge of other symptoms and clinical evidence that may point that direction. I am not trying to scare you by saying that...just to convince you not to go into the doctor's office with an expected outcome.

I originally had 2 hyperintensities in my brain on an MRI, and 2 years later, had an MRI that the radiologist summarized with the equivalent of "no significant changes". I almost didn't go to my neurologist for my annual followup based on that report. But when I did, she looked at the scan herself and noted that by "no significant changes", the radiologist meant that I still had white matter hyperintensities...but what he neglected to point out was that instead of 2, I now had 7. Which was enough to allow the neurologist to give me an MS diagnosis and start on disease modifying medication.

So don't read too much into the radiologist's read of your MRI. Go to your doctor and let him or her tell you what they think it means to you.

[NurseNancy]

august is a long time to wait.
i'd call the office and ask for an explanation of the results from your dr.
just tell them that the summer is a long time to wait and you can't interpret the written report.

[EddieF]

Never go by radiologist report. Countless times I wondered what the heck they were thinking (or not) so I never wait for report, just take home cd and look myself. They're radiologists not neurologists.

Go back where you had scan done, take it home on cd & start learning how to view them. A viewer is always included on cd (for me anyway) but I like Onis out of all i've tried cause it allows you to import all your cd's and compare. Priceless & free!

Check out some of mine http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread177183-2.html

[Erika]

You are so right on the radiologist report. Because they don't have the patient history, they just report on what they see. I've had a radiologist report come back saying that "vascular disease" should be investigated .

The other thing to check on is whether the neuro has actually looked at the MRI or whether they are just going by the radiologist's report. My neuro always looks at the MRI because he said that the radiologist does not always compare the new one to the older ones.

With love, Erika

[ker0pi]

Originally Posted by Erika

You are so right on the radiologist report. Because they don't have the patient history, they just report on what they see. I

The other thing to check on is whether the neuro has actually looked at the MRI or whether they are just going by the radiologist's report. My neuro always looks at the MRI because he said that the radiologist does not always compare the new one to the older ones.

With love, Erika

The Radiologist who read my first MRI said I was completely normal didn't mention any spots or anything. The neurologist who diagnosed me used the exact same MRI a year later and said there was no way the Radiologist actually looked at my scan.