[jadamae]

Hi Everyone,

I am new to this board and am looking for information on my MRI. The results look a little scary to me. I have a appt. with a neurosurgeon next week and am trying to get a head of the game with all the knowledge I can get before I see him.
I am a 51 year old female and was involved in a car accident last July. My Dr. finally ordered a MRI 7 months later and these are the results.

Findings: The cerebellar tonsils descend 5 mm below the foramen magnum. The spinal cord demonstrates normal signal intensity and morphology and at the vertebral bodies demonstrate normal signal intensity without evidence of vertebral body height loss or edema. The disk spaces demonstrate moderate desiccation and narrowing at C6-C7 with Modic 2 type endplate changes.. Prevertebral soft tissues and surrounding soft tissue structures are within normal limits. Segmental analysis reveals the following:

C2/3: There is no canal or foraminal stenosis
C3/4: There is very mild bilateral foraminal stenosis secondary to facet arthropathy slightly more pronounced on the left. There is a small central diskal protrusion. The canal is congenitally narrowed.
C4/5: There is congenital narrowing of the canal with a right central diskal protrusion and bilateral facet hypertrophy. This results in moderate to severe right and moderate left foraminal stenosis with moderate canal stenosis and flattening of the right portion of the cord.
C5/6: There is a central and right central diskal extrusion with congenital canal narrowing and bilateral facet hypertrophy. This results in moderate to severe left and only mild right foraminal stenosis, however, there is moderate Canal stenosis with deformation of the anterior contour of the cord.
C6/7: There is a broad based disk-osteophyte complex, congenital canal stenosis and bilateral facet hypertrophy. There is resultant moderate bilateral foraminal stenosis early more pronounced on the left secondary to the disk osteophyte. There is mild canal stenosis at this level without deformation of the cord contour.
C7/T1: There is no significant canal or foraminal stenosis.

Impression:
1. Congenitally narrow canal superimposed by diskal protrusions and extrusions results in significant canal stenosis at the C4-C5 and C5-C6 levels.
2. Uncovertebral and facet arthropathy result in foraminal stenoses as described above.
3. A borderline Chiari one malformation.