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PLease look at this... MRI question

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  • PLease look at this... MRI question

    OK, so you all may think i'm crazy, but here's a shot of my cervical mri. I know that for a chiari you need a brain mri, but i haven't had one of those yet. I am going to go see a neurologist in two weeks. Does this look like a smallish chiari or am i just imagining things? Someone who knows what to look for, will you look at this? I know that your cerebral tonsils have to be extending through the foramen magnum but i can't figure out where abouts that is... anyways, comments would be great.

    cervical mri

    If you read my previous posts, it tells about my headaches, etc. that i've been having constantly for the past like 2 years.
    aBbiE
    22 yr old F,KU college student
    Kyphoscoliosis...
    Scoliosis (25T, 23L) diagnosed @ 14 yrs old; curves June 08 were 45T, 32L with 18 degree rotation
    Kyphosis of 65 degrees...
    I am missing a lumbar vertebrae

    Surgery 6/30/2008 with Dr. Lawrence Lenke
    Fused T2-L2


    before/after pics
    all smiles!

  • #2
    Did you find out anything?

    It doesn't look like it to me, but I am no doctor. There are examples on www.asap.org that may help you. I hope not for your sake. Take care.
    Shirley
    Mom to Amanda, 18, Scoliosis T58, previous Spinecor bracing for 9 months before diagnosed with Chiari I CM, and Syringomyelia (Syrinx) SM. CM/SM decompression surgery 12/4/06, Spinal fusion surgery with titanium rods and hardware and full correction 8/1/07 at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.

    Also mom to Megan, 14, with diagnosis PDD-NOS on the autism spectrum

    Comment


    • #3
      Reading one's own MRI?????

      Radiologists spend YEARS learning how to read films and neuroradiology is a sub-specialty.

      I remember my mom looking at her abdominal x-rays trying to figure out if she had cancer(she did not)--it was gas in her bowel!!!

      Leave it to the experts and you can always get several opinions from other radiologists.
      Original scoliosis surgery 1956 T-4 to L-2 ~100 degree thoracic (triple)curves at age 14. NO hardware-lost correction.
      Anterior/posterior revision T-4 to Sacrum in 2002, age 60, by Dr. Boachie-Adjei @Hospital for Special Surgery, NY = 50% correction

      Comment


      • #4
        ok so i guess it's a bit odd that i'm trying to read my own mri, but i have the whole thing on CD and it's just oh-so-tempting being a premed student (I really don't know anything about reading MRI's besides I figured out how to navigate the viewing program). I guess I was just hoping that someone on here knew what to look for but until then, i have a neurologist appointment on the 8th of August. I'm still open for input, and thanks to those who have commented already.
        aBbiE
        22 yr old F,KU college student
        Kyphoscoliosis...
        Scoliosis (25T, 23L) diagnosed @ 14 yrs old; curves June 08 were 45T, 32L with 18 degree rotation
        Kyphosis of 65 degrees...
        I am missing a lumbar vertebrae

        Surgery 6/30/2008 with Dr. Lawrence Lenke
        Fused T2-L2


        before/after pics
        all smiles!

        Comment


        • #5
          I know it's hard not to read your own scans when you have access to them. I do it all the time.. tee hee. Unfortunetely, I know too much for my own good from working with crossectional medical scans for years... I actually ended up being right for some stuff that were missed... that's a long angering story.arg.

          Just try to wait till your appt and don't think about this too much. Like Karen said, you can always ask for a re-read by another radiologist.
          30 something y.o.

          2003 - T45, L???
          2005 - T50, L31
          bunch of measurements between...

          2011 - T60, L32
          2013 - T68, L?

          Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
          Post - op curve ~35


          Comment


          • #6
            so I went to a neuro appt yesterday, and didn't mention anything about a chiari just to see what he would say... he didn't see my MRI of my neck but tomarrow i am getting a CT of my head (maybe with contrast, i'm not sure), so does anyone know if i had a chiari if you can see it on a ct? He thought it could either be a really inner ear infection or an inflammatory prob with stress, etc. so we'll see what happens i guess...
            aBbiE
            22 yr old F,KU college student
            Kyphoscoliosis...
            Scoliosis (25T, 23L) diagnosed @ 14 yrs old; curves June 08 were 45T, 32L with 18 degree rotation
            Kyphosis of 65 degrees...
            I am missing a lumbar vertebrae

            Surgery 6/30/2008 with Dr. Lawrence Lenke
            Fused T2-L2


            before/after pics
            all smiles!

            Comment


            • #7
              I'm not a doctor (you already know that ) but at the very top of that mri it looks like a herniated Chiari.
              Here check out this picture, it's my fav. picture for explaining Chiari.

              http://www.northshorelij.com/images/...iara_about.jpg

              I have the syrinx, and I already had spinal fusion. I'm waiting to get another MRI (in march) to see if I have the Chiari.

              Yes asap is a wonderful online group!!! I'm there everyday

              Comment


              • #8
                Here, I edited your MRI just to help explain.....and I added it to this post. Hopefully this helps you! Next time you see your doctors, you might wanna point this out, if they don't point it out to you!

                Comment


                • #9
                  sparks,
                  thanks so much for the reply, that's exactly what i was looking at and wondering about. I went to see a neurologist a couple weeks ago and was stupid and chickened out on suggesting a self-diagnoses. He sent me for a brain and sinus CT with and without contrast, but i asked for it on CD and looked at it and there were no side views and no way (that i know of) to see a chiari. On the form i filled out before i had the scan i asked if the radiologist could look for a chiari but i don't even know if that is possible with the type of scan i had and nothing about a chiari came back with my results. what they told me was that my sinuses were really clogged up with an infection. that is what it showed a year ago and i went through three kinds of antibiotics with no to little relief of the headaches. so needless to say i am on a new antibiotic (Levoquin) and hoping that it will work otherwise i have a feeling that i will be going to an ENT instead of back to the neurologist. I am just confused basically and feeling dumb that i didn't ask the neurologist.
                  aBbiE
                  22 yr old F,KU college student
                  Kyphoscoliosis...
                  Scoliosis (25T, 23L) diagnosed @ 14 yrs old; curves June 08 were 45T, 32L with 18 degree rotation
                  Kyphosis of 65 degrees...
                  I am missing a lumbar vertebrae

                  Surgery 6/30/2008 with Dr. Lawrence Lenke
                  Fused T2-L2


                  before/after pics
                  all smiles!

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    possibly next time you go, you could bring a copy of this picture http://www.northshorelij.com/images...hiara_about.jpg and your mri that i edited....and straight out ask...."if i dont have chiari malformation....then what is this little peice sticking down here?"
                    most importantly...it's so hard to find a good doctor who is educated about this stuff. Don't be shy to keep pushing and asking questions.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by amae28
                      sparks,
                      He sent me for a brain and sinus CT with and without contrast, but i asked for it on CD and looked at it and there were no side views and no way (that i know of) to see a chiari. On the form i filled out before i had the scan i asked if the radiologist could look for a chiari but i don't even know if that is possible with the type of scan i had and nothing about a chiari came back with my results.
                      It is possible to see a side view with the axial CT scans. All the radiologists who's read my CT films did planar reconstruction to read in coronal and sagittal views.
                      30 something y.o.

                      2003 - T45, L???
                      2005 - T50, L31
                      bunch of measurements between...

                      2011 - T60, L32
                      2013 - T68, L?

                      Posterior Fusion Sept 2014 -- T3 - L3
                      Post - op curve ~35


                      Comment


                      • #12
                        It looks fine to me Comparing it with a picture of a whatever one.
                        I wish I lived in a perfect world. . .

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by MeAndPib
                          It looks fine to me
                          Good one.

                          There are some very amusing posts on this group from time to time.

                          sharon
                          Sharon, mother of identical twin girls with scoliosis

                          No island of sanity.

                          Question: What do you call alternative medicine that works?
                          Answer: Medicine


                          "We are all African."

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            I have no understanding of MRI scans and make no attempt to interpret yours. However, if I were you I'd be asking about an area to the right of the bottom two full vertebrae. You will see there appears to be very little white myelin on the right-hand side of the spinal cord and it is at least possible that the nerve is exposed (a bit like a break in the insulating outer layer of an electrical wire). This would typically give rise to symptoms such as tingling and numbness, electric-shock pain or repeated stabbing pains. You'll see from the following link a typical example of demyelination:

                            http://sumerdoc.blogspot.com/2008/11...ation-mri.html

                            This may not, of course, be what's wrong in your case but it would do no harm to ask.

                            Comment

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