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October 14, 2009 - 4:18pm
Can someone please help me to understand my MRI results.
I have severe back pain and it hurts in my legs my shoulder and my neck, my doctor sent me for an MRI and I got the results back today. I have to go see a neurosurgeon next week but I don't quite understand what all of the results mean. Can someone please help me to understand.
Results are as follows:
MRI lumbar spine.
History: Low back pain.
Procedure: Multiplanar MR imaging of the lumbar spine was performed in multiple MR sequences.
Findings: The conus terminates at the L1-L-2 level and is grossly normal.. Disc Desciccation is noted at L5-S1. The height and alignment is normal.
At T11-T12, there is minimal disc bulge and facet arthrosis. The is no canal or foraminal narrowing.
At L3-L4, there is minimal disc bulge and facet arthrosis. There is no canal or foraminal narrowing.
L4-L5, there is mild diffuse disc bulge. Bowel facet arthrosis is noted. There is no disc protrusion or herniation. There is no canal narrowing. Mild Bilateral foraminal narrowing is noted.
At L5-S1, there is mild disc bulge with a small broad-based central disc protrusion and annular tear. This touches the descending left S1 nerve root just above the lateral recess. There is no central canal narrowing. Mild bilateral foraminal narrowing is noted.
Impression: Multilevel degenerative disc diseasse as described above.
Please help I hope I got all of these words spelled correctly if not I must apologize. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and I will be forever greatful for any help.
Thanks again.
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Welcome to Spine-Health - you'll find a lot of people here that are understanding, friendly and helpful.
We aren't allowed or able to read MRI results as none of us are doctors and we'd really be doing you an injustice.
That being said, one thing to note is that there is the word "mild" and "minimal" used throughout your report. This is a very good thing. In most cases, a person who is suffering with mild issues in their spine can receive successful treatment with conservative measures. These can include many things such as injections and physical therapy.
However, it is ultimately up to your doctor to let you know the next step, so keep us posted.
Cath
~ October 21, 2008 - ACDF, 3-level (C4/5, 5/6 6/7), with hardware and eight screws. All fused and hardware is stable.
~ January 6, 2010 - TLIF at L4/5, two rods and four pedicle screws.
~ July 2010 - New CT and MRI on cervical shows further problems above fusion at C2/3 and worst at C3/4.
I am in no way affiliated with the medical profession. Any recommendations I make are based on my personal experiences only, so do not take my comments as medical rules.
Thanks for your comments Cath I appreciate it. And I wasn't on here asking anyone to interpret the results for me I am merely asking for some opinions and some help in understanding the results, as you probably know next week is a long wait for someone who is worried and doesn't understand. I know the only one who can give me the final results is the neurosurgeon. I also had 3 biopsies done yesterday and those results are not back yet. So all of this is just a waiting game for me. But thank you again for replying to me.
Hi there,
If you're going to see the neurosurgeon next week, do you think it might be better to ask him to interpret your MRI for you? Even qualified radiologists disagree on the interpretation of MRIs!
Bye, Val
PS Cath took the words out of my mouth ie 'mild' and 'minimal'!