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What Does The Following Brain MRI Report Indicate?
Question: I had a MRI of my brain and the results were that I had a leg amt of chronic scattered small vessels ischemic white matter disease in the Cerberum, is this bad
Brief Answer:
No reason for panic.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
White matter changes are a common finding on MRIs. Their significance depends on the scale but also on the age of the patient.
Some white matter changes are to be expected with age. That is because with the years blood vessels like other parts of the body undergo changes, their walls become thicker and their lumen narrower. As a result the tiniest of them may become occluded and the tiny corresponding brain areas do suffer as a result, leading to those ischemic changes. So after the age of 60 they are often encountered, often discovered by chance on MRIs done for other purposes, as themselves they usually do not cause any symptoms.
Of course they are not desirable, but not bad either, they certainly do not represent any threat to your life and if on a mild to moderate scale usually do not cause any impairment of daily functioning. To a point they may be genetically determined and not much can be done. However they are accelerated by factors causing damage to blood vessel wall like high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol etc. So in order to slow down their progression in the future what can be done is to regularly monitor for the above mentioned factors and when present address them. Other than treating those factors and low dose aspirin, no other treatment is necessary.
I hope to have been of help.
No reason for panic.
Detailed Answer:
I read your question carefully and I understand your concern.
White matter changes are a common finding on MRIs. Their significance depends on the scale but also on the age of the patient.
Some white matter changes are to be expected with age. That is because with the years blood vessels like other parts of the body undergo changes, their walls become thicker and their lumen narrower. As a result the tiniest of them may become occluded and the tiny corresponding brain areas do suffer as a result, leading to those ischemic changes. So after the age of 60 they are often encountered, often discovered by chance on MRIs done for other purposes, as themselves they usually do not cause any symptoms.
Of course they are not desirable, but not bad either, they certainly do not represent any threat to your life and if on a mild to moderate scale usually do not cause any impairment of daily functioning. To a point they may be genetically determined and not much can be done. However they are accelerated by factors causing damage to blood vessel wall like high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol etc. So in order to slow down their progression in the future what can be done is to regularly monitor for the above mentioned factors and when present address them. Other than treating those factors and low dose aspirin, no other treatment is necessary.
I hope to have been of help.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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