Hi guys, I’m sure you will know more than ms about this… When I was diagnosed with transverse myelitis the neurologist from looking at the scan actually thought initially I had a tumour. He said it was the size of a cherry. I was nearly scheduled into have an operation to remove it & have it tested, but when people at the John Radcliffe looked in more detail, they came to the conclusion that they thought it was inflammation. Can I ask… Is inflamtion the size of a cherry big? I’m thinking it was as even the neurologist initially thought it was a tumour? Also I hear people talking about enhanced spots showing on scans but not the size of cherries? Thank you for any responses. T x
Oh, I forgot to say when the inflammation went down I was left with 2 lesions that were smaller in size apparently?
Hi app666. I cant really answer your question about the size of the inflammation. I do not have a dx as yet but TM is ome possibility. I hope you dont mind me asking but where are your lesions and how are you effected now? My lesion is in the cervical neck. I recovered well for the attack I had in 2008 after a few weeks but a year later I started to notice stifegardfness in right leg which has turned into spasticity which is making walking difficult.
Moyna x
I suppose it depends on how big the cherry is. The average MS lesion is 7mm. I would guess that a cherry is about 15-20mm across? So, in terms of MS lesions, it’s on the large side, however, they do happen fairly often.
Not being sure if a lesion is a tumour or a patch of inflammation happens fairly often when lesions are about 20mm or more and have a particular appearance. They used to do biopsies to be sure, but MRI is really good these days and can usually be used to tell the difference (as in your case).
Given that your big lesion resolved into two smaller ones, I would guess that what happened is that you had two inflamed lesions and the inflammation from each joined up to look like one bigger lesion. As the inflammation reduced, the fact that there were actually two lesions became clear. Which of course means that your 15-20mm lesion was actually two 7.5-10mm lesions and these have since reduced in size. It’s like someone having two cuts close together, but only when the swelling dies down can you see them separately.
Hth.
Karen x
Hi monya, I completely lost the use of my right hand & wrist and my speech was messed up. I have the use of my hand back now completely although it feels a bit different from the other one, and my speech plays up eveything now & then. I think the transverse myeltius means it goes across both sides of the spinal cord. My legs were not affected. I wasn’t told about lesions on my spinal cord just that I was left with 2 on my brain.
I had all of this immediately after having a virus, so the neurologist thought all virus related.
A definite possibility.
Kx