At L4/5 there is mild desiccation with mild disc narrowing. There is mild diffuse bulging of the disk annulus. The AP diameter of the canal is 12 mm with triangular cross section. There is moderate spurring of the facets with a trace of facet joint fluid. The is no narrowing of the foramina.

At L5/l there is desiccation of the disc with central 5 mm disk protrusion. There is moderate spurring of the facets with moderate ligament hypertrophy. The AP diameter of the canal is 10 mm.. There is mild spring of the end plates. There is mild to moderate narrowing of the foramen due to the spurring.

Impression: There is spurring of the facets with mild to moderate narrowing of the foramina at L5/Sl.

I am 61 year old, I have severe low left side back and leg pain. Would like to know a little about this MRI before I go to a neuro doctor.

Hi whit34cha,

Welcome to the NeuroTalk Support Groups.

I just wanted to let you know that in the Sticky threads at the top of the forum
there is one that contains info for MRI/CT Terminology
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread115890.html

Discuss epidurals with the neuro...maybe facet block too...

Does the MRI sound bad, do you think I will have to have surgery. Been hurting for three mouths so tire of pain, nights are the worse. Wish someone could tell me about the MRI. I don't see anything that's helps me on this site.

Hi
Not sure if you saw the link that Lara gave you above to the thread here on understanding MRI terminology http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/thread115890.html

Our members are primarily patients or their caregivers, not professionals, so it really is best to discuss your MRI with your doctor directly to get a full explanation of what it shows

I have seen MRI's that looked awful and patients had relatively few problems and MRI's that were not so bad that were surgical....and then everything in between! MRI findings by themselves are not of much value, and should support the clinical diagnosis to confirm it. Your treatment should be more based upon your complaints and clinical (physical exam) findings. That is why I think you should talk to your doc about what I previously mentioned. Other conservative approaches are fine, i.e. chiro, accup., PT. Try to focus more on effective treatment modalities as opposed to imaging findings!