"Prominence of the central spinal canal"

[mollyfin]

My MRI results came in and against all good judgment I looked at them. First of all, holy hell, I have five bulging/herniated discs in my thoracic spine. That probably explains my mild upper back pain (and maybe the numbness but I'll have to ask the doctor about that). However, noted is "prominence of the central spinal canal at t3." Which can be caused by...you guessed it...a tumor. (I've had thoracic MRIs before so it's not a congenital issue, and I've never had a spinal cord injury or meningitis. Tumor seems to be the only cause left. Screwed-up discs don't cause it.) I'm hoping that an MRI without contrast would still have caught a tumor if there is one, but I don't actually know.

I'll call my doctor today and ask (politely insist) that she go over my results with me. Hopefully I won't have to make an appointment for that. I'd gladly pay her for her time over the phone, I just don't want to have to go there to have the same conversation I could have without leaving the house. Pandemic's still on after all.

 

[Danny1001]

Hey I am going through the same thing right now. My mri found a syrinx in my thoracic spine. Now they want me to go for another mri with contrast. Was your mri with contrast?


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[mollyfin]

Nope it was without, because she was just looking for herniated discs (which she did find!) Not sure if I'll have to get another one with contrast. Really hoping the doctor calls me back soon.

 

[Danny1001]

They want me to go back for contrast I am also nervous like you a syrinx Is very similar to what you have I’m not sure exactly what the differences I tried to find old but they are very similar


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[Fraser]

(I've had thoracic MRIs before so it's not a congenital issue, and I've never had a spinal cord injury or meningitis. Tumor seems to be the only cause left. Screwed-up discs don't cause it.)

"Histopathological studies show that the canal is present at birth with the majority showing subsequent involution but is uncommonly imaged on MRI."

Prominent central spinal canal on MRI - normal variant or pathology

Full text: The sensitivity of MRI can make differentiation of normal from abnormal challenging.The study investigates whether a visible central spinal canal is pathological or a normal variant. We review eight MRI (mostly on a 1.5 Tesla unit) cases where there is a visible central cavity in...

inis.iaea.org

 

[mollyfin]

...I can't actually parse what that particular sentence means, but I think I get what the link is getting at in general. Thanks. Fingers crossed that's the case for me as well.

 

[Fraser]

...I can't actually parse what that particular sentence means, but I think I get what the link is getting at in general. Thanks. Fingers crossed that's the case for me as well.

I read it as this type of thing is often not imaged on an MRI, meaning it frequently doesn't appear, meaning it may well be congenital and just not caught until now. The best bet is to not jump to any conclusions. Easier said than done when you have HA.

 

[mollyfin]

Mostly now just irritated that my doctor hasn't returned my calls. As you can imagine, my back hurts and I'm getting pretty crabby about it! Unfortunately most of my regular doctors retired during COVID (understandable, they were all well past old enough and I can understand just not wanting to work in dangerous conditions if you can avoid it) so I'm for the most part just blindly picking doctors and hoping for the best in a lot of cases. Starting to suspect this one may be the sort to take a while to get back to you.

 

[Fraser]

Mostly now just irritated that my doctor hasn't returned my calls. As you can imagine, my back hurts and I'm getting pretty crabby about it! Unfortunately most of my regular doctors retired during COVID (understandable, they were all well past old enough and I can understand just not wanting to work in dangerous conditions if you can avoid it) so I'm for the most part just blindly picking doctors and hoping for the best in a lot of cases. Starting to suspect this one may be the sort to take a while to get back to you.

It also suggests that what the imaging came back with is not an emergency.

 

[Fraser]

Like, if they saw something they thought had a good chance of being cancer, they'd be getting back to you.

 

[mollyfin]

You would think, but I talked to someone at the office (finally) and she hasn't looked at it yet. They said "by the end of the week" so I guess I'll try Friday.

 

[blueberries]

Hi Molly - sorry to hear that you are going through another health scare. All kinds of things can show up on an MRI and most are just normal variants. Hopefully that is what you are dealing with. I don't know where you are but where I am if anything significant shows up, the reading radiologist is required to personally contact the doctor that ordered the scan and then the doctor will personally contact you. So no news is good news. Near me scans are usually read within a few hours. They tend to tell you a longer time just because

 

[mollyfin]

That's good to know at least. And yeah I got my results the day after the test in the patient portal, but I guess she's having a busy week. Even if it's not a life-threatening issue I hope she hurries up a little...I'd like SOME help here on, like, how to encourage my spine to go back to the way it was, with all the discs on the inside and whatnot. But it's not that bad.

 

[mollyfin]

My doctor finally looked at my results, but won't discuss them without an in-person appointment. Which generally speaking I get; they need to make money, but I've been having the worst IBS for the last few weeks and am dreading going anywhere. Sigh.

 

[Danny1001]

Hey did you can any more info?


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[mollyfin]

Doctor is more concerned that I managed to herniate five discs in my thoracic spine, haha. It's possible the discs are causing the fluid to collect because of the pressure. Haven't managed to see the neurologist yet (she went on vacation right when I had the scan done) but my GP gave me some info.

 

[Doug97]

Did you manage to get any more info?

 

[mollyfin]

No one but me seemed to be worried, so for now at least I've managed to accept that I was overreacting. I'll be pretty mad if it does turn out to be a serious issue later on down the line, but that's a problem for future me I guess!

 

[MATD]

You would think, but I talked to someone at the office (finally) and she hasn't looked at it yet. They said "by the end of the week" so I guess I'll try Friday.