Hi, I'm Samantha. I began having a severe migraine about 3 weeks ago, and it lasted for 12 days straight. It was more tollerable at times, than at other times during those days. Then I had 2 headache free days, and then they were back again for 4 days. Thus, my family dr. put me on an antibiotic for a sinus infection and sent me over for an MRI.

I am sitting with a mailed copy of a abnormal MRI of the brain in front of me. My $%^##$ dr. mailed it to me, and now it's the weekend and I have no idea how to read this stuff.

I was hoping someone out there could help. Here goes...

Impression:
Abnormal MRI of the brain.

A large mucous retention cyst bordering on a mucocele is seen involving the left maxillary sinus. Some mild chronic appearing mucous inflammatory changes are scattered within the right middle ethmoidal air cells. Additional CT scan of the sinuses may be beneficial to determine the extent of osseous deformation.

and here's the part that concerns me.....

A single left basal ganglia hyperintense focus is seen on long tr sequences. This may be a single chronic ischemic lesion. This is also a finding that may be incidental with migraineurs. Further clinical correlation is recommended.

Now, of course I have been scouring the net and getting all kinds of hits on stroke, MS and other disorders and I'm kinda worried. It is 12:00 pm here on the east coast, and I know I am in for a sleepless night, thanks to my family physician who decided to just mail this stuff to me with no explaination other than when I called the nurse to request the results, she said "he had me mail you a copy of the MRI results and call if you have questions."

Well, DUH! Wouldn't you think I would have questions? How the heck am I suppose to understand this stuff? And this lesion, was it caused by my migraine or by a stroke or what? I was reading that these ischemic lesions could correlate to stroke.

Anyway, if anyone has any insight, I would greatly appreciate a response. Thank you.

Hello Samantha,
Hope you can talk with your dr soon. It sounds like more follow up and testing might be needed, to clarify the cause & diagnosis.

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Great to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help. We are all here to assist each other as possible.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene

not a dr and dont play one on TV either....
but the first part sounds like the blockage of sinus problems...and the other parts sound like further testing for your sinuses....then the one part...does talk about a spot but talks about migrane related....is how I read it...

good luck, sorry they mailed it...I wouldnt jump to hard on the MS or other stuff reading...till you call...thinking between the sinus blockage and migrane idea....but definately call Monday...bummer they mailed it..thinking they werent too concerned then.....hugsss and welcome, sarah

Hello and welcome to Neuro Talk, sorry the doctor left you hanging for the weekend, call them bright and early Monday and see if you cant get a good explanation of the MRI, again welcome to NT

if you are a migraineur, then i would nt worry so much....the sinus part sounds like it is serious, and probably of long standing...needs to be treated aggressively.....and i cant figure why a follow up appt wasn't made at the same time as the appt for the mri.....that is how it has been done when i have had imaging work done.....do you have ins? if not that may explain the lack of f/u.
really poor on the part of the doc.....

Hey Samantha,

try going to an online medical dictionary site and look it up word for word. It sounds to me like you might also be suffering from a sinus infection. Good luck.

Hello and Welcome to Neurotalk, Samantha!! You will meet many great and supportive people here!!

I'm sorry to hear about everything you are currently going through . I agree with the others that it is probably best to discuss your results with a Doctor and see what they say. I really hope you can get some much-needed answers soon.

I am keeping you in my thoughts and if you need anything, please don't hesitate to ask - I am more than happy to help you in anyway I possibly can and i'm sure others will be also!!

Please keep us updated when you find something out and I look forward to seeing you around the forum soon!!

Best wishes,
Alison

welcome to neurotalk ... there are lots of friendly and supportive people here ... i hope to see you in some of the forums soon ... again

Hi Samantha and Welcome to NeuroTalk.

I really hate when the docs mail a copy of a test to me before they explain it. Because we aren't educated enough the big words sound scary. I would call your doctor and have him explain it to you.