One lesion in 2 years

[shellos8]

I went 2 years without having an MRI. I just had one a few weeks ago and it showed I have one new lesion and that all of the other lesions I had 2 years ago when I was diagnosed have become "fainter". What does this mean? Is it good or does it really not mean much?

[22cyclist]

Well it is good that all of the other lesions have become fainter. You can look at the one new lesion in a couple of ways. You can say boy am I lucky to have only one new lesion, or you can say boy my DMD is not keeping me from getting new lesions. I would probably say the first one. I only gained one new lesion and the rest look fainter on MRI. All in all, good.

If your new lesion is active, that will need to be treated. Otherwise, all is good.

Take care
Lisa
Moderation Team

[MSer102]

If your new lesion is active, that will need to be treated.

No it doesn't need to be treated, especially if it's not causing any symptoms. Steroids haven't been shown to have any effect on the progression of MS so there's no reason to treat a lesion only because it's active.

Even with symptoms, not every relapse needs to be treated. Steroids only shorten the length of a relapse. If there aren't any symptoms (or if they're mild), there isn't anything to shorten so there's no reason to treat. Just being active doesn't justify the damaging effects of steroids. Treat the patient, not the MRI.

I can't find it right now, but another member has posted the link to a collection of a year's worth of an MS patient's MRI's. It shows lesions coming and going over the year. Maybe somebody will find that link and post it.

An MRI is just a snapshot in time. One new lesion caught on an MRI 2 years from the last one is probably good news. No treatment has been shown to prevent all new lesions and it's better than a whole bunch of new lesions because it means that that much more of your brain is "unmolested".

[shellos8]

Thanks for the replies. I'm actually not on any DMD right now and haven't been for almost a year. I'm going to start Tecfidera soon. I know I shouldn't have gone 2 years without an MRI because it doesn't tell me or my doctor whether it's a really new lesion or if it came on a year ago. Either way, I'm not having any new symptoms and my dr. didn't say anything about needing steroids. I've only had them once and I felt like crap for 2 weeks afterwords. He said we'd save those for a true relapse and shouldn't be used recklessly because they are hard on the body.

I'll be sure to get an MRI in a year.