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Old 01-23-2018, 04:19 PM #1
C Baker C Baker is offline
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Default Mri

Can someone help me understand the MRI that I had done recently. It states as follows, incidental vertebral body hemangioma T1 and T4 levels.C3-4 Severe left foraminal narrowing. Osteophyte disc complex which is eccentric to the left.C4-5 moderate right and early left foraminl narrowing. C5-6 osteophyte disc complex formation with mild central canal narrowing. Moderate to severe left . C6-7 severe left and mild to moderate right foraminalnarrowing. Osteophyte disc complex formation without central canal narrowing. 7-T1 osteophyte disc complex formation without canal narrowing Moderate left foraminal narrowing. Is surgery in my future? Thank you
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Old 01-24-2018, 07:03 AM #2
glenntaj glenntaj is offline
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Default Whether or not surgery would be indicated--

--will probably be decided by how your symptoms match up to these MRI results, though I imagine that you would not have gone for the MRI if you didn't have some symptoms.

In short, you have significant cervical spine compromise. The shorthand you've listed here indicates that most of it seems to involve the narrowing of the neural foramina, which are the space through which the nerve roots exit the spine on their way to various parts of the body, and this is happening on multiple levels. When these foramina narrow, they limit the space for the nerve roots to pass through, and pressure on the nerve roots can result in all manner of neurologic symptoms--the level at which this happens (C3, C4, etc.) have typical body coverage areas, called dermatomes, at which symptoms can be felt. You do have multiple levels involved, mostly through osteophytic mechanisms, which basically means overgrowth of bone into the foramina--a very common thing to happen as we age, by the way. (My cervical spine is full of them.)

The good thing is that you don't seem to have much in the way of central spinal cord involvement--disc or bone pressure on the spine itself tends to be more serious than pressure on the exiting nerve roots.

The point is, people with very similar imaging findings can have widely divergent symptoms. Some people get severe symptoms with only mild apparent MRI findings, and some with severe MRI findings may have little if any symptoms, and everything in between. The correlation between MRI findings and symptoms is usually the starting point for talking about surgery, and there are other considerations--approach, age, other conditions that may hamper recovery (smoking, obesity, diabetes). Always get a least a few opinions.
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Old 01-24-2018, 11:51 AM #3
C Baker C Baker is offline
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Default

Thank you for your input. I do seem to have quite a lot of pain with this. I will probably seek second opinion if my Dr. suggests surgery. Thank you again
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Old 03-05-2018, 06:01 PM #4
caroline2 caroline2 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by C Baker View Post
Thank you for your input. I do seem to have quite a lot of pain with this. I will probably seek second opinion if my Dr. suggests surgery. Thank you again
Saw your post, I am 80 this year and have been dealing with OA of mostly the lower back for about 60 yrs. OA in neck too but I manage. Never had a back surgery and that is not high on my list of "want to do's".

I have two MRI's after hip replacement in 2010 and talk about a lot of stuff that sounds horrible, but still would NOT do back surgery. Hip replacement left me with 3 major complications.

I have done a lot of bodywork in my life and take a good number of supplements for OA issues and hear a lot about PRP/Stem Cells working if the issue is NOT really really bad. I've had some prolotherapy injections over the last 10 yrs and they have helped me...shoulder pain was gone for 3 yrs.

Insurance does not cover these regenerative injections. If money were no issue for me, I'd be at the doc's working with PRP/Stem Cells.

Just thought I'd drop a few words your way. C
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