MRI results help!

Hi, just reviewed my results by letter from neurologist. I’m a tad confused as he has not explained very well. He said that the MRI shows altered signal within the spinal cord?! I’m unsure what this means and wondered if that is a lesion? He also said its in keeping with his suggestion of inflammation causing the symptoms. Please help!

Not very detailed! Tbh, in theory it could mean loads of different things, but based on his comment about inflammation, I would say yes, it’s most probably a spinal lesion. Karen x

It occurs to me that you might want to know a bit more than that… “Altered signal” means higher or lower than expected signal. Higher signal causes white/bright patches on the images and lower signal causes dark/black patches. Depending on the scan type and in relation to MS, high signal means inflammation / lesions and low signal means an area that has atrophied / died (aka “black holes”). Kx

Thank you, I have contacted the neuros secretary to find out a bit more she said she will talk to him tomorrow and ring me back! In his letter he said he thinks I will be content until may (when my appointment is) to have a more detailed explanation! I’m very confused!!