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What Does The Flair Signal Hyperintensity On The MRI Mean?

my friend is a 39 year old female with 1 child. She is roughly 6' 2" I believe and is about 20 or so lbs over weight. She was recently told she has 2 spots showing up on her MRI and was told it was flair signal hyperintensity. She is extremely worried and asked me to look up to see what it means because when she looked it up all she could find was info on MS
posted on Fri, 14 Mar 2014
Twitter Sat, 7 Jun 2014 Answered on
Twitter Mon, 9 Jun 2014 Last reviewed on
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Radiologist,  's  Response
Hi,
Thanks for choosing healthcaremagic.
Flair hyperintensities mean that there are abnormal signal intensity on MRI in some parts of the brain. Flair is one of the sequences used while doing MRI. We have many sequences done during MRI. Usually Flair hyperintensity affects the white matter of the brain. It is very common in old age due to chronic vascular insults. MS is also one of the causes for flair hyperintensity though there are definite criterias and areas of involvement for MS. Your friends details don't fit at all in those criterias and so she should not be worried about MS.
Many people have small areas of flair hyperintensities which can be due to microvascular damage to brain. It does not affect routine work and life in any ways.
Hope it sorts your friends problem.
Regards,
Dr. Pankaj Nagori
Specialist Radiologist
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What Does The Flair Signal Hyperintensity On The MRI Mean?

Hi, Thanks for choosing healthcaremagic. Flair hyperintensities mean that there are abnormal signal intensity on MRI in some parts of the brain. Flair is one of the sequences used while doing MRI. We have many sequences done during MRI. Usually Flair hyperintensity affects the white matter of the brain. It is very common in old age due to chronic vascular insults. MS is also one of the causes for flair hyperintensity though there are definite criterias and areas of involvement for MS. Your friends details don t fit at all in those criterias and so she should not be worried about MS. Many people have small areas of flair hyperintensities which can be due to microvascular damage to brain. It does not affect routine work and life in any ways. Hope it sorts your friends problem. Regards, Dr. Pankaj Nagori Specialist Radiologist