MRI & Lesion Question

[CrazyCatLady]

How often do you get MRIs? I was DX'd June 30, 2010. Had an MRI June 29th and Sept 3rd 2010. At my neuro appt yesterday he said there isn't a need to do another one anytime soon. That it really isnt that important now that I am diagnosed. That at this point we go by how I am feeling.

Also how important is it to know how many lesions you have? Be they active or inactive. I have read both of my MRI reports and neither say how many lesions I have. They just give sizes of 4 lesions then say numerous small lesions. Is that odd?

I asked my neuro these questions and he isn't too worried about the actual lesion. He is more concerned with how I am feeling.

I love my neuro but is it time to go shopping for a new one?

[0485c10]

my doc doesn't place too much emphasis on MRI's either, but i like to see the result. mri are mostly used to diagnose and then determine if the med is effectively slowing the disease. i have read that by convention lesions over 3mm are measured but under that they can be described as small or puncuate(dot sized).

many doc's treat the patient not the mri & to tell you the truth that's a better doc. IMO

[GEM]

My neuro seems to send me for a new MRI every 1 to 2 years to keep track of disease activity with both contrast and non contrast. I personally think it's important to keep track of the lesions in the brain and having active ones tells me if the disease is in an active state and helps with treatment decisions. Knowing the number of lesions you have helps you keep track of how well your medication is working. I would be uncomfortable with just basing everything on how I felt. Lesions can build up silently and then the damage hits you, like it did with me.

[MrsBones]

How often do you get MRIs? I was DX'd June 30, 2010. Had an MRI June 29th and Sept 3rd 2010. At my neuro appt yesterday he said there isn't a need to do another one anytime soon. That it really isnt that important now that I am diagnosed. That at this point we go by how I am feeling.

Also how important is it to know how many lesions you have? Be they active or inactive. I have read both of my MRI reports and neither say how many lesions I have. They just give sizes of 4 lesions then say numerous small lesions. Is that odd?

I asked my neuro these questions and he isn't too worried about the actual lesion. He is more concerned with how I am feeling.

I love my neuro but is it time to go shopping for a new one?

It's really not all that important to know how many lesions you have or even exactly where they are. How you are feeling is often more accurate a measure of changes than an MRI. MRIs do not give the best picture of what's going on, but right now, it's the only picture. So we use it when it's truly useful and we don't have to worry much about them otherwise.

I only know how many lesions I had after my first 2...26 in the brain and then 46 in the brain and 2 at C3 / C4. After that, they said stuff like "too numerous to count". I haven't had one in maybe a year and a half.

The MRI is important for dx'ing and is required to take Ty, but beyond that, it's down to your dr's style and your budget. Some drs do them on a certain time frame and others when you seem to have changes and they want to compare to a previous MRI.

Your dr's approach isn't off the wall. As long as you feel you are being treated well, I wouldn't be too worried about it.

[4boysmom]

MRIs are helpful in med decisions, but I'd go with the approach of see how you are feeling rather than lesions on MRI.

I have eliminated a lot of meds because I had a neuro who treated the MRI rather than the patient. I probably never should have been changed from Avonex, but was and now I've developed allergies to Rebif, and neutralizing antibodies to Tysabri!

I've had an MRI most every year, but now that I seem fairly stable with Copaxone, I probably will wait a couple of years unless symptoms seem to start cropping up.