Can they show up on one and not the other?

[ShanZro]

I probably shouldn't have but I looked at the disk from my recent MRI. It also had the past two MRIs on there. In my very first MRI you can clearly see the lesion on my C4, but in the second and third MRI I dont see it. Can they show up on one MRI and not the next one? The first MRI was when I was before I was diagnosed and was at the height of my symptoms. Could that be why it showed up in that MRI and not the last two?

I got see my neuro next Monday so I will for sure be asking her but I wanted to ask here just for a little weekend piece of mind.

[0485c10]

Yes. you will have to ask the neuro for the best explanation but 2 possible ones are

a. the mri measures in slices and it could be that slices caught on the first mri was where the lesion was and one the subsequent mri's, the mri measure slices where where the tissue was clear of lesions--the lesions were on an measured slice.

b. lesions can heal and become unmeasurable by the mri-- some tissue damage will remain from when the lesion was there, but the mri can't measure that damage or show the lesion that has "healed".

lesion show in mulltiple stages: at first lesions are new & active called a "t1 lesion that enhance with the dye"--- then the lesions can get larger, OR smaller, OR scar and become an inactive lesion called a "t2 lesion that highlights" on the MRI OR or it can disappear entirely(meaning the mri can no longer measure the lesion that was there)

and why an active lesion will scar to become an inactive lesion or get smaller or get larger or disappears is not understood. just observed and is used to determine the effectiveness of the ms med. effective ms meds cause lesions to go inactive, get smaller or dissappaer. ineffective ms treatment will cause lesions to stay active, or get larger. lesions that just stay the same without an increase in the # of lesions are likely to cause ms med to be given a little more time to evaluate.

[jcooper75]

I began having symptoms in May 2010 and spent 2 weeks in the hospital while they tried to figure out what was wrong. While the lumbar puncture came back positive, my MRI was completely clear.
Then in November I had a flair up and the follow up MRI showed 10 lesions on my brain.
I began treatment immediately and my MRI in Feburary showed all the lesions had healed.
So, from what I have experienced, it is possible to have an MRI with lesions and then have them heal.

[Tawanda]

Yes. you will have to ask the neuro for the best explanation but 2 possible ones are

a. the mri measures in slices and it could be that slices caught on the first mri was where the lesion was and one the subsequent mri's, the mri measure slices where where the tissue was clear of lesions--the lesions were on an measured slice.

b. lesions can heal and become unmeasurable by the mri-- some tissue damage will remain from when the lesion was there, but the mri can't measure that damage or show the lesion that has "healed".

lesion show in mulltiple stages: at first lesions are new & active called a "t1 lesion that enhance with the dye"--- then the lesions can get larger, OR smaller, OR scar and become an inactive lesion called a "t2 lesion that highlights" on the MRI OR or it can disappear entirely(meaning the mri can no longer measure the lesion that was there)

and why an active lesion will scar to become an inactive lesion or get smaller or get larger or disappears is not understood. just observed and is used to determine the effectiveness of the ms med. effective ms meds cause lesions to go inactive, get smaller or dissappaer. ineffective ms treatment will cause lesions to stay active, or get larger. lesions that just stay the same without an increase in the # of lesions are likely to cause ms med to be given a little more time to evaluate.

This is about the best "disappearing lesion" explanation I have ever heard! Thank you for the enlightenment, and let's hope all our lesions choose to disappear for good!

[gretchen1]

I was going to say the same thing........well said, 0485.