PLease look at this... MRI question

[amae28]

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.

[Mom37]

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.

[Karen Ocker]

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.

[amae28]

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.

[green m&m]

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.

[amae28]

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...

[sparks42]

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

[sparks42]

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!

[amae28]

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.

[sparks42]

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.

[green m&m]

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.

[MeAndPib]

It looks fine to me Comparing it with a picture of a whatever one.

[Pooka1]

It looks fine to me

Good one.

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

sharon

[AndreaM]

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.