Here is the official MRI results for my back. I will see the spine doctor on Tuesday but from the looks of it, there is no getting out of surgery. I am only 35 and I am beside myself. I feel worthless, because I can't do anything anymore because I hurt so bad. I am terrified. And the thing that scares me most is this is just the Thoracic part, they didn't do the others, Lord only knows how bad a shape they are in. I feel like I am about 80. I woke up crying this morning because I feel so scared. My DH says I am being really hard on myself. He tells me not to worry we will get it taken care of and you will be back to new. I wish I could think that way.

My 14 year old is helping alot, bless her heart, she should not have too. She is such a good girl. My 9 year old does help too, but of course she gets so side tracked that it is hard.

Results, I will just type the Impression, not the whole thing, as I would be here a while.

1. Multilevel Degenerative Disc Disease. (I looked this up and it is very unusual to have this is the thoracic area)

2. Bulging discs and vertebral body osteophytosis, and some apparent asymmetric small herniated discs at multiple levels as discussed above.

3. Small focal area of signal abnomality in the spinal canal ventrally, posterier to superior aspect of the T12 vertebral body which is suspicious for a small caudally migrated disc fragment.


Any input is greatly appreciated.

Michelle

Michelle,

Slow down...You have not been to the doctor and you are assuming that he is going to offer surgery. Thoracic surgery is not usually done unless the patient is in some sort of an emergency situation because of the seriousness of surgery for the thoracic spine. You do not say what your pain is other than you hurt all over. I wonder why an MRI of the lumbar or cervical spine was not done first?

I have spinal problems from top to bottom. I have had the cervical spine fused as well as the lumbar spine. My thoracic problems are severe, but no one has suggested thoracic surgery except one surgeon and I decided he was too aggressive in treatment.

You do have a problem that probably needs attended to at T-12, but he does say that he "thinks" it is a "small caudally migrated disc fragment." He said it was suspicious. Was this an open MRI? It is often difficult to get clear pictures of the thoracic spine. My NSS at Hopkins thought the one I had done was exceptionally good, since as he says it is often difficult to get good pictures of the thoracic spine.

T12 is at the bottom of the thoracic spine so if they do have to go in at that level it is not as serious as going in at the middle of the thoracic spine. Everyone has degeneration in the spine. You are young, but others have shown degeneration at this age. My spinal pain began near age 35 and I did not have my first surgery until age 50. I endured a lot of pain over the years in between age 35 and 50. You can try minimally invasive treatments and procedures before attempting surgery. Most surgeons do not operate to relieve pain because the surgeries do not necessarily get rid of pain. They operate to relieve numbness or other problems, but not just for pain.

If you haven't already seen more than one spinal doc, that is mandatory, especially if they offer surgery. I saw about 17 docs before allowing surgery... and most were top docs in their field. I was looking for an ADR, but was not a candidate.

Surgery is needed when a) there is radiological evidence of nerve root or spinal cord compression - AND - b) the distribution of symptoms (radiating pain/numbness/weakness) matches exactly the radiological findings (e.g. C5-6 prolapse on the MRI - thumb numbness/arm pain/biceps weakness)


Many docs describe DDD of the spine as this:

Dr.Kleeman describes it as this:
Disc degeneration is a natural consequence of aging. It is seen radiographically in about one out of five people in their twenties and in 100% of people by their sixties. The symptoms if any are mild and transient. Occasionally the condition becomes more of a disease than a natural process. This is often seen when the discs degenerate prematurely at a time when the patient is still young and active. The discs are subjected to more stress than would be expected in an older and more sedentary individual. The inflammation that is generated in the disc causes mechanical pain that is aggravated by activity and relieved by rest and lying down. As the disease progresses, fissures and cracks within the disc can lead to ruptures or herniations of disc fragments.

There is no present treatment that can reverse the degenerative process. On the other hand the symptoms can be treated with anti-inflammatory medication, a brief period of rest, and progressive activity as the symptoms abate. Once the symptoms have subsided, there is evidence that participation in a regular exercise program may prevent or at least reduce the symptoms of recurrent flare-ups of back pain. Both aerobic and resistive exercises have been shown to be beneficial. Discs derive nutrition through physiologic motion. Exercise enhances spinal nutrition while a sedentary life may lead to accelerated degeneration.

Some good sources to visit for researching and reading are these:

http://www.back.com/faq-ddd.html

http://www.spineuniverse.com/display...rticle242.html

Hi Michelle,

I just saw this thread and wondered if you would tell more about your symptoms?
Were any other locations mentioned along with the T12?

I'm assuming the Dr thinks only the T spine area is the main problem?

You can even request copies of your scans to see it for yourself {copy fee}
or if you feel another opinion is needed take your scans to be read by another radiologist {another may see something that was overlooked}.
These are general suggestions that i have heard over the years.

Below is the MRI report in its Entirety.

There is some loss of normal high signal intensity on the T2-weighted images, involving the intervertabral disks at the T5-T6 through T12-L1 intervertebral disk space levels compatible with desiccation. There is also some loss of height of the majority of these intervertebral disks. Vertebral body osteophytosis is noted at multiple levels, most notably at the T10-T11, T11-T12 and T12-L1 levels. There are minimal bulging disks at the T3-T4 and T4-T5 intervertebral disk space levels. No focal herniated disk, significant neural foraminal narrowing or significant spinal stenosis is seen at these levels. At T6-T7 there is a small central herniated disk with mass effect upon the ventral aspect of the sac. On axial images there is suggestion that this contacts the ventral surface of the spinal cord, but without evidence for significant compression of the spinal cord and no significant decrease in the AP dimension of the spinal canal. At T7-T8, T8-T9 and T9-T10 there are minimal posterior diffuse bulging disks and accompanying vertebral body osteophytic bony ridges leading to minimal mass effect upon the ventral aspect of the sac, but no focal herniated disk, significant neural foraminal narrowing or significant spinal stenosis is seen at these levels. At T10-T11 there is mild posterior diffuse bulging disk and accompanying vertebral body osteophytic bony ridges, leading to some mild asymmetric mass effect upon the ventral aspect of the sac, greatest in a left paracentral location. No significant spinal cord impingement is seen at this level. No significant spinal stenosis or neural foraminal narrowing is seen at this level. At T10-T11 there is a relatively mild posterior diffuse bulging disk and accompanying vertebral body osteophytes. Additionally, there is cephalad migration of a pedunculated focus of signal abnormality in the ventral aspect of the spinal canal, posterior to the superior half to the T11 vertebral body, at the midline. This measures up to 5mm in greatest anterior-posterior dimension, 6mm in greatest transverse dimension. and 11mm in greatest cephalocaudad dimension. Although suspicious for a small caudally migrated disk fragment, this does not appear to cause any impingement upon the spinal cord of any nerve roots. At T12-L1 there is posterior diffuse bulging disk with accompanying vertebral body osteopyutes leading to mass effect upon the ventral aspect of the sac, asymmetrically greater in a left paracentral location. No spinal cord impingement, significant spinal stenosis, or neural foraminal narrowing is seen at this level. There is some mild wedging of the T11 and T12 vertebral bodies which may be physiologic in nature and due to old trauma. There are areas of increased signal intensity and T1 and T2- weighted images, involving the inferior endplate of the T11, the inferior endplate of T12, and the superior endplate of the L1 vertebral bodies, most compatible with diskogenic reactive marrow change. A small focus of high signal on T1 and T2-weighted images is seen in the posterior-superior aspect of the T11 vertebral body, to the right of midline, most compatible with a small focus of fatty marrow change or hemangioma. The thoracic spinal cord demonstrates normal size and signal intensity.

Thank you for looking at this.