Pain In Back, Hip And Leg With Numbness. Had MRI Of Lumbar Region. What Are The Findings?

Posted on Fri, 26 Apr 2013

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 Answered on

Sat, 25 May 2013 Last reviewed on

Question : I had an MRI done to lumbar region due to pain in lower back extending down to left hip and leg. Numbness present to left leg at times. Impression came back as follows:
Small right posterolateral disc pro
Protrusion and moderate left facet anthropathy at L5-S1 without stenosis or foraminal narrowing.
Diffusely decreased marrow signal. This may be normal variant although differential diagnosis includes chronic anemia and myeloproliferative disorders.tia

Answered by Dr. Rohan Khandelwal (4 hours later)

Dear ma'am,

Sorry to hear about your problem. The MRI shows that some nerves in your spinal cord are getting compressed because of which you are having numbness in your legs. Another cause of tour numbness can be diabetes which can lead to neuroptahy.
As far as the decreased marrow signal us concerned, it appears to be normal but to ne object the safer side, you can get a hemogram done along with a peripheral smear. This will u rule out any blood disorder.

Hoping for the best.

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar