Newbie ? on how to read an MRI report
 

Yesterday I received in the mail a letter from my neuro stating that "the MRI has been reviewed and there were no notable issues found".

The letter detailed the observations, but it was all about the thoracic spine only, with no comments anywhere about the brain.

The letter did say "MRI imaging of the brain was also taken".

Do you interpret this to mean that the overall MRI was fine? Maybe the brain takes a little longer to review the images.

I see the neuro again in a couple of weeks.

Thanks friends,
undx'd restorativepose

you probably need to wait to talk to your doctor about the results. None of us here are qualified to interpret anything for you.

Do you have the pics.

When I had my MRI I lied BIG time and told the radioligist my doctor had ask me to get a copy and bring it with me to his office later that week.

I then drove to the Univ of Maryland bookstore. I found the medical books section and located huge folio size book Titled "How the read and interpert MRIs and CAT scans.

It took me a while to find a match to my MRI.

Good Luck.

jackD

Oh yes, absolutely agreed. I understand the forum here isn't a substitute fro a doctor's advice. I am seeing my neuro in a couple of weeks.

I guess I was more wondering if it's typical for a brain + cervical spine MRI to be reported out separately?

when I had my MRI's, they had separate reports for each of them. One for the brain, one for the cervical, one for thoracic, and one for lumbar.

Yes, it is very typical for the two to be considered separate studies and to be reported in separate reports. Your neuro may want to wait and go over the brain study results when you see them again.

my experience is that the mri is read and reported in it's entirety; brain & spine.
the radiologist reads the films and makes a report which is sent to the dr.
the dr may also review the films if he wants.

you have a legal right to get a copy of the mri on disc and a copy of the report.
go to the place where you had it done and sign a release.
you may not understand the report but it's a handy thing to have in your medical file for the future.