Mri results how do they determine signficance?
 

Hey everyone.

I just wanted to thank everyone for all the help on my old thread. I am going to definitely be talking to my neurosurgeon or neurologist whoever comes first about the tens/ems. ;)

I got a copy of the results from my last mri *finally*. Everything says normal on it except for these:

Disc space: No significant narrowing.

Bones: No fractures or osseous leasions.

Central canal: No significant stenosis.

How exactly do they determine if it is significant or not?? I am in a huge amount of pain for it all to be for no reason.

My previous Mri from a different hospital was:
Axial images show minimal osteophytes on the left at c3-c4resulting in mild narrowing of the intervertebral foreman.There is no evidence of disc protrusion or spinal stenosis.

Oh yes, & I had to go almost all day without pain meds yesterday, because my neurosurgeon says that I am going through them to quick. My script is for Norco & it says I am allowed to take 1-2 every 4 - 6 hours for pain as needed with a bottle of 40. I generally take 1 every 4 hours
awake time, it's enough to cut the edge off, but doesn't completely relieve all the pain. I worry about the long term affects of being on narcotics. Anyways, the bottle does not last that long. Sorry just a vent. I see her next month & will discuss changing scripts then.

Thanks.
Flustered....again Probably always :P

Hello,
I just looked thru your other posts and found your symptoms-

[I have constant neck pain, headaches, pain that radiates down my right arm, whenever I am not laying down the muscles spasm across the top of my shoulder & lower back, numbness & tingling in my hands & from my chin down my chest that comes & goes.]

do you do repetitive work or lots of computer work??
hunched or rounded shoulders?? are shoulders level and even ?
or even previous falls, sports injury or car accident?
{whiplash or neck/shoulder injury}

If any of these fit you might want to read on our TOS forum -
useful sticky thread- http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread84.html

here are a few starter links about Thoracic Outlet Syndrome
TOS info:
http://www.medifocushealth.com/RT017/index.php
http://www.nismat.org/ptcor/thoracic_outlet/
http://tos-syndrome.com/newpage12.htm
http://www.doctorellis.com

many with TOS have minimal things on our MRIs but those are not the cause of our pain either.

Just wanted to let you know about it just in case it fits.

Thanks Jo!
I just recently lost my job, I was a cna....lots of heavy lifting there. I didn't really do anything repetitive. I hit a deer about 1 1/2 years ago...but I wasn't going too quickly. My shoulders are kinda hunched & rounded.

I will definitely check into those sites...might take me a while....the way the pain is progressing I can only be up for about 20 minutes, then I have to lay down for 20 mins. to get my muscles to relax & the weight of my head off my neck.

Thanks again!
Flustered

Unfortunately every different Radiologist will read an MRI differently. I went through the same thing with an MRI on my shoulder, that didn't show much, but after talking to the Orthopedic Surgeon, I was able to convince him to go ahead with the surgery, and when he got inside my shoulder, it looked like it had been hit inside by an IED.

Unless there is something on the MRI that is very blatantly obvious, unfortunately there are too many ways to interpret the results. The best way to get clean results is by either
A) more angles of view by the MRI
B) MRI with contrast (of course depending on what structures they are looking at)

I am right now going through the whole evaluation process post MRI for my lumbar spine, and it was pretty much the same thing.. one military doctor ( from a different branch) treated the results like no big deal, and I am being evaluated by an Army Orthopedic Surgeon (My own branch of the service) and he knows that the results of the MRI are significant enough to do something..


The best thing I could recommend to you, is educate yourself on the pertinent medical information, and be more proactive in your care.. The more you know, it is like having more of the right ammunition.