I have a 20 minute head MRI scan booked in for the end of the month. Is this adequate to diagnose MS or do i also need my spine doing? Had symptoms getting worse for a few years, had to really push GP to get a scan was told I gad ME and therefore every symptom i get GP either says they don’t know what it is or that its probably a ME thing. Feeling so ill now and fed up of being fobbed off.
It’s seems to vary ( no idea why). I had only a head scan but I know others get MRI scan plus a lumbar puncture
My pre-dx scan was c-spine and brain, but since then I’ve only had brain scans. The c-spine was done because the neurologist suspected where they would find a lesion there and he was right. I do not know how routine that is. As Hank says, it probably varies a fair bit.
Getting a scan at all is progress. Maybe best to see what that shows up?
I’ve always had brain and c spine MRIs.
I think it usually takes more than an MRI scan to be diagnosed.
You need to meet the Mcdonald criteria.
Wait and see what the Neurologist says once you’ve had the scan.
My MRI was brain and whole spine. I was in the machine for 50 mins. I’ve got multiple brain lesions and a lesion on the C Spine. It was good that I had whole spine but the report was clear that beyond the C spine, the field of view was too large (not MS protocol) so I’m not too sure how useful it was in the end. So even having a full scan may not necessarily nail a diagnosis.