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What Does MRI Scan Report Indicate?
Question: what does mild cerebral & cerebellar volume loss with probable small vessel ischemia mean?
Brief Answer:
Part of aging.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Regarding the first part of that MRI report, volume loss, it means there is a degree of shrinking of your brain. Every human brain starts to lose some mass gradually every year after around the age of 25. It is a small percentage and isn't noticed on MRI at a younger age, but as it accumulates over the years starts to become visible after a certain age. It might be worrying if it was premature, say it was visible at the age of 40, but if you are indeed 75 it's a normal common finding. There is nothing you need to do about that.
The second part means there are some small areas suffering from lack of sufficient blood flow due to narrowing changes in the small blood vessels. Again this is a common finding after a certain age as blood vessel walls do undergo some changes over the years (as they do in every organ for that matter) and for the ones with the smallest caliber this can lead to insufficient blood flow. Whether this will cause any symptoms depends on the degree, since it speaks of probable I am assuming/hoping it is of a mild degree in your case which shouldn't cause any symptoms. If moderate or advanced they could cause some degree of impairment of your cognitive functions.
As I said this is a common process which apart from age can be accelerated by high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, obesity. So the only thing to be done is pay attention to the possible presence of those factors and treat them accordingly if present. Also a low dose of Aspirin could be added.
So bottom line none are alarming findings, are very common at your age, attention must be payed to risk factors for blood vessel disease.
I remain at your disposal for further questions
Part of aging.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
Regarding the first part of that MRI report, volume loss, it means there is a degree of shrinking of your brain. Every human brain starts to lose some mass gradually every year after around the age of 25. It is a small percentage and isn't noticed on MRI at a younger age, but as it accumulates over the years starts to become visible after a certain age. It might be worrying if it was premature, say it was visible at the age of 40, but if you are indeed 75 it's a normal common finding. There is nothing you need to do about that.
The second part means there are some small areas suffering from lack of sufficient blood flow due to narrowing changes in the small blood vessels. Again this is a common finding after a certain age as blood vessel walls do undergo some changes over the years (as they do in every organ for that matter) and for the ones with the smallest caliber this can lead to insufficient blood flow. Whether this will cause any symptoms depends on the degree, since it speaks of probable I am assuming/hoping it is of a mild degree in your case which shouldn't cause any symptoms. If moderate or advanced they could cause some degree of impairment of your cognitive functions.
As I said this is a common process which apart from age can be accelerated by high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol, obesity. So the only thing to be done is pay attention to the possible presence of those factors and treat them accordingly if present. Also a low dose of Aspirin could be added.
So bottom line none are alarming findings, are very common at your age, attention must be payed to risk factors for blood vessel disease.
I remain at your disposal for further questions
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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