MRI Results

[dcancellarich]

I just got back my MRI results and my doctor told me that there is one new lesion but no active lesions. What does it mean to have unactive lesions, how can an MRI recognize whether the lesions are active or inactive? This is the first time I am asking this, I never really thought about it before when he would tell me none of the lesions are active but now that I think about it, I don't fully understand. Can anyone shed some light on this?

[BigA]

I'm sure someone will come back with a more technical description (we do have our experts out there), but very quickly:

When you get an MRI, you generally get two versions of the same MRI one with and one without contrast.

The contrast is a dye that you are injected with after the first "plain" MRI.

An old lesion - say older than 1 month will show up in the plain MRI as a lesion. An active lesion, i.e. one that has recent activity (within a the past few weeks) where the mylen has been attacked will "glow" on the contrast MRI.

Imagine you are searching for someone in the jungle. You come across a fire pit where they were camped out. If they left within 24 hours, you might still feel a little heat, but if it was longer than 24 hours, you could only tell that they were there since the last rain. The contrast MRI shows whether the lesion has been active in the past few weeks.

That's about all I can think of at the moment.

[dck696]

That's a very helpful way to answer that; it's a question I've had as well.

[Ihb7337]

Yep that is how I understand active vrs inactive. Active lesions seem to take up more of the gadolinium ? And glow differently than the inactive ones. The inactive ones I believe are still evident but not glowing, therefore considered inactive. Some lesions disappear altogether ! all of us wish the dang things would all disappear!!!! Maybe someday there will be a cure.

[journeyman]

"Flairing"

I just finished my MRI. I got the report and read it for myself.
(Being a MS. Ret. RN helped with the terminology.)

I have one site that is fairly large that they originally called a stroke. It has been in all of my MRIs. The other ones are much smaller and in a "freckle" pattern. I have had two others that "flair"up. (Using their terminology.) as active.

Even when they are flaired up I am not having an "MS. flair."
Meaning no perceptible symptoms to me. My interpretation is that there are places in the brain that are being "worked on" by our immune system but have not reached the point of a short circuit affecting the surrounding areas or not hot enough to cause a problem.

When they showed me my MRI the spot that was "flairing" was bright white meaning dense. The others were obvious and grayish in varying shades; (non-active)

I hope that this explains some of my limited knowledge of MRIism. I have looked an many MRIs and had them explained to me but they weren't mine. Now its personal.

Keep the questions coming.

Dave
"journeyman" Tampa, Florida
Status: in fourth month of remission. ( I usually have a six month up and six month down pattern. The relapses seem to be getting more intense. Last time I could not speak, recognize what was being said to me. I cold not write. I am a big talker and my MonSter has been very selective with where it hits me. My wife and I joke that it is her vacation from me talking incessantly.

[dcancellarich]

Thank you, all of your answers are very helpful and make complete sense. Like I said I've heard this terminology before but never really thought about it until now. In the past I have had lesions that have disappeared, not this one though. I too hope there is one day a cure, it is such a unpredictable disease and there are so many unanswered questions about so many things.