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What Causes Back Pain In Upper And Lower Thoracic Spine?

Posted on Sat, 26 Jul 2014

Question: I have been having back pain in my upper and lower thoracic spine. I had an MRI today and got the images on a disk but won't find out the findings until Monday or Tuesday. I noticed some bright white circles on the MRI and am now very nervous and was wondering if I could have someone look at my images and tell me what they think the possibilies are.
I have also been getting numbness in my right hand but this could just be carpal tunnel (I work on a computer all day)

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (36 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
MRI spine looks normal.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thank you for posting your query.

I have noted your symptoms and have gone through the MRI pictures uploaded here.

I can understand your anxiety, however, I would like to reassure you that the images of spine look normal and there is no need to worry.

I hope my answer helps. Please get back if you have any follow up queries or if you require any additional information.

Wishing you good health,

Dr Sudhir Kumar MD (Internal Medicine), DM (Neurology) XXXXXXX Consultant Neurologist
Apollo Hospitals, XXXXXXX XXXXXXX
Click on this link to ask me a DIRECT QUERY: http://bit.ly/Dr-Sudhir-kumar
My BLOG: http://bestneurodoctor.blogspot.in

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

Follow up: Dr. Sudhir Kumar (8 minutes later)

What do you think could be causing my back pain then? I have pain in my upper back by my shoulder blades and in the middle of my back. When I went to physical therapy they said my upper and middle spine were moving too much and that my spine was stuck in a right rotation. They said I just needed to exercise to build up my muscles but after physical therapy, my back pain wasn't any better.

Also, what are the white spots in the MRI? I see quite a few, a large one in one of the spine bones.

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (4 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Most likely disc disease.

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for getting back.

The most likely cause of your back pain could be disc disease. The relevant pictures showing the discs have not been uploaded here (only 10 images of MRI are uploaded here).

Those white spots are normal tissues, most likely bone marrow. In some cases, hemangioma can also look white like that (which are benign lesions, and no action is needed for that).

Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology)

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

Follow up: Dr. Sudhir Kumar (0 minute later)

There are a total of 200 images is there a way of giving you all of them in a zip drive or something? I'm not sure which ones are of the disc

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (4 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
Please get in touch with XXXXXXX team.

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for getting back.

Please get in touch with the technical team of XXXXXXX on demand/healthcaremagic.com team for the help in uploading the images.

Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology)

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

Follow up: Dr. Sudhir Kumar (3 minutes later)

I just uploaded some more images are these the ones you need?

Answered by Dr. Sudhir Kumar (11 minutes later)

Brief Answer:
These are also normal.

Detailed Answer:
Thank you for uploading more images.

These are also normal. They show normal laminae, pedicles and other parts of bones (vertebral bodies). Some parts of heart and its vessels are also seen.

The MRI pictures with discs are not yet uploaded.

Best wishes,
Dr Sudhir Kumar MD DM (Neurology)

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