Focal areas of high T2 signal within the cord at T2 and T5/6 suggestive of inflammation and in the brain there were a few scattered foci of hyperintense FLAIR signal in the subcortical white matter with a further single focus adjacent to the right temporal horn
Focal areas mean well defined (smooth edges) white spots on the images - a large proportion of MS lesions are described as focal areas.
The first T2 refers to a type of MRI scan that is good for showing up fluid. Fluid gives off a high signal on these scans so that it shows up brightly on the images. Lesions contain fluid, so they show up as white/bright spots on T2 scans.
The second T2 and the T5/6 are talking about your thoracic spinal cord. See here for some info: Spinal Cord & Column | Spinal Cord Injury Information Pages
Inflammation means just that - the areas look inflamed. However, the word inflammation is often used in place of the word demyelination.
Foci is the plural of focus - so some scattered white spots.
Hyperintense FLAIR signal means they were white on the FLAIR scans (another type of scan, like the T2 scans).
Subcortical white matter is a bit more complicated so bear with me. The brain’s outside layers are gray matter. These areas do all the encoding, storage, processing, etc - they basically control language, sensory perception, memory, cognition, movement, etc (i.e. everything!). These outer layers of the brain are called the cortex. Underneath the cortex (i.e. subcortical), lies the white matter. The white matter consists of the connections between the different bits of gray matter - like phone lines between telephones. So subcortical white matter means the white matter lying underneath the cortex, the outside layers of the brain.
Further single focus means one more lesion.
Adjacent to the right temporal horn is talking about something next to one of the bits of the lateral ventricle in the right half of your brain. The lateral ventricles are basically lakes of CSF in the middle of the brain, a bit like the oil reservoir in a car engine. The temporal horn is the bit of the ventricle that goes into the temporal lobe of your brain. There are four basic lobes in the brain: the frontal lobe (the front), the parietal lobe (behind the frontal lobe), the occipital lobe (behind the parietal lobe and right at the back of the brain) and the temporal lobe, which is behind the frontal lobe, but on the side of the head, in line with but underneath (if you’re standing up!) the parietal lobe and in front of the occipital lobe - wikipedia probably have a nice image if you want to see what I’m talking about. So you have a lesion next to the temporal horn of the lateral ventricle in the right half of your brain.
So, all in all, you have two lesions in your spinal cord, multiple small lesions scattered around the white matter of the brain and one lesion lying next to the right lateral ventricle.
If you have only had the one attack (sorry, I can’t remember)…
The fact that your MRI has not changed since last time suggests that the lesions were not caused by ADEM. I would have to guess that a diagnosis of probable MS is on the cards because of the number of lesions and their location, but please remember that I don’t have all the information and am not remotely qualified so could be completely wrong!
If you have a google for spinal nerve diagrams, you will see exactly what’s to blame for your symptoms: T2 controls the hands and T5/6 controls the chest muscles (and hence causes the hug). Your T2 lesion must be right-sided to affect only your right hand. Your leg symptoms may mean you have a lesion further down, but higher up lesions can affect everything below, so the symptoms might be the result of your T2 and T5/6 lesions or they could be the result of some of your brain lesions as everything is controlled there.
Hth!
Karen x