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What Do These MRI Findings Indicate?
Posted on
Tue, 1 Dec 2015
Tue, 1 Dec 2015
Answered on
Thu, 17 Dec 2015
Last reviewed on
Question : I have had tingling in my face after getting a vaccine which my neurologist feels is a cranial neuropathy and will eventually go away although it will take time. I had a normal ct scan and just got the results of my mri. My neurologist is on vacation and I don't know what this means other than it doesn't sound good. It reads the sulci are symmetrical and no mass effect is seen. There is no evidence of hydrocephalus. There are a few small (less than 4mm) cystic areas in each posterior pariatel region which appear to represent prominent vascular spaces. No abnormality of the brainstem is seen and the signal arising from the white matter is normal with no evidence of demyelnaztion. Is this cancer? I am a 34 year old male and freaked out at the moment.
Brief Answer:
Nothing to be worried about.
Detailed Answer:
I read that report carefully and actually I am pleased to have picked your question as I get to ease your concern.
I do not see anything to freak out on that report. Most of the description is completely normal. The only finding which I suppose must have had you worried is the one about the prominent vascular spaces. Such enlarged perivascular spaces (otherwise called Wirchow-Robin spaces) are a very common finding in many people, especially nowadays with modern MRI machines high resolution.
They do not cause any symptoms. The cause is not well known, but certainly have no relation to tumors and they do not evolve into any dangerous lesion. At times they might be an associated finding to brain small vessel disease, past head trauma, demielinating disease, but all those would have been visible on the MRI, so not your case. They are a coincidental finding and have no relation to your symptoms. From the lack of any other finding on the rest of that report there is no brain lesion to explain your tingling so your neurologist is probably right in it being a peripheral nerve issue.
I hope to have been of help.
Nothing to be worried about.
Detailed Answer:
I read that report carefully and actually I am pleased to have picked your question as I get to ease your concern.
I do not see anything to freak out on that report. Most of the description is completely normal. The only finding which I suppose must have had you worried is the one about the prominent vascular spaces. Such enlarged perivascular spaces (otherwise called Wirchow-Robin spaces) are a very common finding in many people, especially nowadays with modern MRI machines high resolution.
They do not cause any symptoms. The cause is not well known, but certainly have no relation to tumors and they do not evolve into any dangerous lesion. At times they might be an associated finding to brain small vessel disease, past head trauma, demielinating disease, but all those would have been visible on the MRI, so not your case. They are a coincidental finding and have no relation to your symptoms. From the lack of any other finding on the rest of that report there is no brain lesion to explain your tingling so your neurologist is probably right in it being a peripheral nerve issue.
I hope to have been of help.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
thank you for your prompt response. do these spaces grow or get worse? do they ever go away? I guess it is just really a benign finding then
Brief Answer:
It is a benign finding.
Detailed Answer:
They do not go away. They may grow in number as you get older and the brain shrinks (it shrinks for each and everyone of us with age, no panic), as the brain matter becomes less, there is more space around the vessels, but they still won't cause any symptoms.
It is a benign finding as you say.
It is a benign finding.
Detailed Answer:
They do not go away. They may grow in number as you get older and the brain shrinks (it shrinks for each and everyone of us with age, no panic), as the brain matter becomes less, there is more space around the vessels, but they still won't cause any symptoms.
It is a benign finding as you say.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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