What Does My Following MRI Scan Report Indicate?
Could mean decreased cerebral blood flow
Detailed Answer:
Hi, thank you for using Healthcare Magic. The hyperintensities are bright spots seen on the MRI which may indicate localized damage to brain cells. General volume loss is a decreased brain size. These findings can simply be due to aging. They can also be seen with certain types of nerve problems, changes in gait, changes in thinking, or autoimmune diseases causing brain inflammation.
Chronic small vessel ischemic changes mean small very localized areas where damage has occurred from reduced blood flow through the small vessels in the brain, in other words, tiny strokes. The radiologist is postulating that in this case s/he thinks these findings could be due to small strokes as opposed to the other conditions mentioned above. This would have to be correlated with signs and symptoms you are having to make a firmer diagnosis.
Hope this answers your query. If you have further questions, I would be happy to answer them.
Follow up with the doctor who ordered the MRI
Detailed Answer:
Definitely; it would be best to follow up with the doctor who ordered the MRI in the first place. S/he had a reason to order it, and these findings may suggest or rule out a diagnosis that was being considered.
Again, the findings have to be correlated with any signs or symptoms you are having to firm up the diagnosis. The radiologist was just making an educated guess. They could simply be due to aging and not require any treatment. I presume you are having some kind of symptoms or otherwise the MRI would not have been ordered. Because we do not know yet exactly what the diagnosis is, treatment cannot be started, so no recommendations can be made yet.
Does this help? Let me know if you have further questions.
Could be something serious
Detailed Answer:
You are having significant symptoms that do correlate with the MRI findings. It may be any of the conditions I mentioned. Multiple sclerosis is another possibility. The combination of your symptoms with findings on the brain MRI confirm there is something going on in your brain and not the peripheral nerves in your arms and legs. This is not simply due to age in your case.
You need to follow up with the doctor who ordered the MRI. This doctor will have to do further testing to pinpoint the diagnosis, since it could still be one of the conditions I described earlier. Some of this will be simple blood tests. Are you seeing a neurologist? This is the type of specialist you need to see for those possible conditions.
Wishing you improved health.