I am new here. Have been dealing with neck/back pain for years. I just recently had a MRI again to see what is going on. Any help in understanding it would be great. Thank you so much for your time.
Here goes:

Findings: Limited visualization of the posterior fossa contents demonstrates unremarkable morphology, position, and signal characteristics. The cervical spinal cord demonstrates unremarkable course and morphology. NO cord parenchymal signal abnormality is appreciated on sagittal imaging sequence.
Loss of normal cervical lordosis. Otherwise normal cervical vertebral alignment.
Minimal fluid signal abnormality associated with c7 benign hemangioma. Otherwise no significant marrow or paravertebral soft tissue fluid signal abnormalities appreciated. T1-weighted imaging demonstrates benign hemangioma and otherwise relatively homogenous marrow signal.
Minor cervical degenerative change with minimal disc height loss and minimal facet hypertrophy.
c2-3: minor uncovertebral osteophytes and minor facet hypertrophy. at most mild left and no significant right neuroforaminal narrowing. no significant canal stenosis

c3-4: minor uncovertebral osteophytes and minor facet hypertrophy. Minor facet hypertrophy. Mild to moderate left and mild right neuroforaminal narrowing. No significant canal stenosis.

c4-5: minor facet hypertrophy. minor uncovertebral osteophytes. At most mild right and moderate left neuroforaminal narrowing. no significant canal stenosis.

c5-6: minor uncovertebral osteophytes. minor facet hypertrophy. mild to moderate bilateral neuroforaminal narrowing. minimal broad based disc bulge. at most mild canal stenosis.

c6-7: bilateral uncovertebral osteophytes. minor facet hypertrophy. moderate left and mild right neuroforaminal narrowing. no significant canal stenosis.

c7-t1: minor uncovertebral osteophytes. minor facet hypertrophy. severe left and no significant right neuroforaminal narrowing. no significant canal stenosis. findings may correlate with left c8 radiculopathy clinically.

axial imaging of the cervical cord demonstrates unremarkable course, morphology and signal characteristics.
Impressions: multilevel cervical mild degenerative change with at most mild canal stenosis. Neuroforaminal narrowing is seen most conspicuous and severe left c7-t1 neuroforamina. additional neuroforaminal narrowing as described above.

Sorry for all the typos. I transcribed from my hard copy report. Any insight would be helpful.

I'll try to help:

At C2-3 You have minor bone spurs and minor facet hypertrophy (overgrowth of bone). There is mild left foraminal narrowing. The foramen are the holes that the nerves pass thru to get to the spinal cord.

At C3-4 It's the same as above except you have right AND left foraminal narrowing. (mild).

At C4-5 Same as above

At C5-6 Same as above PLUS a broad based disc bulge and mild spinal canal stenosis. Stenosis is where the spinal canal narrows.

At C6-7 Same as C4-5

C7-T1 Same as above EXCEPT SEVERE left foraminal narrowing.


From what the doctor said, most of this is mild degenerative changes -- and it probably comes with age. It doesn't look bad really. What symptoms are you having? I don't see anything that would warrant surgery at this point, but you MIGHT just want to take your films and get an opinion from a Neurosurgeon, just to be sure. Do NOT jump into any surgery without getting at LEAST 3 opinions. The original opinion, and 2 others. Surgery will not totally relieve your pain. Surgery is ONLY for mechanical problems. After surgery you'll be left with the same pain or worse, usually. So dont plan on being pain free after any surgery.

If you have further questions, let us know ok? God bless & take care. Hugs, Lee