Multiple Sclerosis Mri Brain White Matter Lesions
The key question then is whether a patient s mri shows ms like lesions.
Multiple sclerosis mri brain white matter lesions. You can see them in other diseases which involve the blood vessels of the brain causing vasculitis that is inflammation of the blood vessels and this list includes neurosarcoidosis. White matter lesions though also have been reported in patients with migraine and multiple sclerosis here the lesions have a characteristic distribution in the brain and line the ventricles. Since myelin coats the nerve fibers that travel through both the brain and the spinal cord demyelination creates lesions in both areas. Ms related lesions appear on mri images as either bright or dark spots depending on the type.
The role of mri in diagnosing ms if you have symptoms of ms your doctor may order an mri scan of your brain and spinal cord. This contention is based on the premise that cerebral demyelination signs on mri are sufficiently recognizable and characteristic to be considered a sine qua non of ms diagnosis. This means that if someone with ms has brain lesions they. White matter appears white because the protective wrapping around nerve fibers or axons is a pale fatty tissue called myelin.
2 a corollary is that presence of multiple white matter lesions does not increase likelihood of ms as long as none or very few of the lesions are typical of ms. Specifically the periventricular lesions and the more peripheral white matter lesions near the gray matter white matter junction are typical mri findings in multiple sclerosis. There are several causes of white spots on a brain mri including small strokes migraines multiple sclerosis ms lupus b12 deficiency a brain tumor such as lymphoma or an infection such as lyme disease or hiv. Mri scans can detect damage in the central nervous system which comprises the brain and spinal cord.