I had two cat scans today, one of the brain and one of the neck, following an accidental impact to the head with a 900 pound paper cutter.

The brain scan found nothing unusual, but I was surprised by the size of the ventricles. Apparently, the ventricles get larger in size with age.

The cat scan of the neck was a bit different:

Quote:

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FINDINGS:
Alignment is within normal limits.
Vertebral body heights are maintained.
No evidence for acute fracture.

C2-3: No significant disc disease or high-grade stenosis.

C3-4: No significant disc disease or high-grade stenosis.

C4-5: Broad-based disc bulge. Mild to moderate spinal canal stenosis. No neural foraminal stenosis.

C5-6: Severe disc degeneration. Broad-based disc bulge. Prominent osteophytosis. Moderate to severe spinal canal stenosis. Severe bilateral neural foraminal stenosis.

C6-7: Disc degeneration. Broad-based disc bulge. Moderate spinal canal stenosis. Moderate to severe bilateral neural foraminal stenosis.

C7-T1: No significant disc disease or high-grade stenosis.

Paraspinal soft tissues are within normal limits.

IMPRESSION:
1. No evidence for acute cervical spine abnormality.
2. Moderate to severe spinal canal stenosis at C5-6. Recommend MRI of the cervical spine for further evaluation.
3. Moderate spinal canal stenosis at C6-7.

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I'm not at all sure how worried I should be.

In late October in the 1989 to 1992 (not sure which precise year) time frame, I had a bicycle accident in which I went over the handlebars and head first into the ground. The helmet I was wearing broke into three large pieces and several smaller pieces. The doctor didn't do any x-rays or anything and told me that I had a cervical sprain and told me that the amount of ibuprofen I was taking was not therapeutic, but didn't prescribe anything. I looked up the normal prescription dosage in my PDR and started using that amount for the next few days.

I'm curious if the accident could have been part of the cause of the disc issues. Also, as a kid, I went off a horse a few times and at least once landed on my head.

Any suggestions?

Did the doc that ordered the CT scans have any recommendations? Are you having significant neck pain, or other symptoms (e.g. radiating pain, weakness, or numbness in your arms or hands)? Certainly doesn't hurt to have more data on the spine condition with an MRI, but if you don't have any major pain or other neurological issues, I wouldn't be too worried. But my experiences are from years of dealing with bulging discs and stenosis, not from a specific traumatic accident.

In the report, the radiologist recommends an MRI of the entire spinal column.

I've always been leery about an MRI because I have had surgical steel suture in my chest since July 1974 when I had heart surgery. (Dr Denton Cooley at the Texas Heart Institute.)

From the x-rays, I thought the suture was inside the heart, but it has been suggested that it may have been used to close my sternum after the surgery. If the latter, I wonder if they might be able to remove it if they can't determine the precise suture used.

I hate metal detectors. Years ago at LAX, the security guy spent a good 10 to 15 minutes going over me with a wand trying to figure out what I was hiding inside my chest. He finally gave up and let me through anyway.

One possible effect from that might be my issues with the outermost fingers in the left and right hand. I haven't been able to type with the little finger on my right hand for the past 35 years.

I made an appointment with my doctor for next Monday to discuss the cat scan results.

He was already booked up yesterday so I saw a physician's assistant instead. For discussing the results of the scan, though, I prefer an actual medical doctor.

im in the neurological field,
so we see tons of neuro-axis imaging


spinal column and disc changes as we get older is normal,
if we image 100 people over 40, im going to see changes in well over half of them

meaning, depending on your age, its an expected finding


as someone else mentioned, you need to see if you have any symptoms that correlate to those levels,
also, MRI C-spine >>>> CT C-spine

An MRI is scheduled for Friday.

I had chest x-rays today to look at the surgical suture. Looking at the report from the radiologist, the report shows that they were looking for "shortness of breath", not to help determine whether it might be safe to do the MRI.

That isn't very reassuring.

FWIW, my daughter recently had an MRI on her knee. They didn't even have her take her sneakers off. She also had on her underwire bra. Granted, she went in feet first but it was no bid deal. Not sure how the metal on a pair of addidas compares to your situation, but I suspect you'll be safe.

eric76 said:

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...the report shows that they were looking for "shortness of breath"...

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thats very common "reasoning" (ie coding) for the image,
and doesnt mean thats what the radiologist is looking for

OasisMan said:

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eric76 said:

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...the report shows that they were looking for "shortness of breath"...

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thats very common "reasoning" (ie coding) for the image,
and doesnt mean thats what the radiologist is looking for

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Ahh.

When they called me a few minutes ago about the appointment, I asked about the location of the suture. They went and checked the x-rays from Monday and confirmed that it was in the sternum, not in the heart.

When I had my cat scans last week, I noticed that the reasons given were far from the actual
reasons for having the cat scans.

I wondered if maybe they did the x-rays to look at themselves and so the radiologist who examined them just did a normal examination of them.

eric76 said:

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I had two cat scans today, one of the brain and one of the neck, following an accidental impact to the head with a 900 pound paper cutter.

The brain scan found nothing unusual, but I was surprised by the size of the ventricles. Apparently, the ventricles get larger in size with age.

The cat scan of the neck was a bit different:

Quote:

---

FINDINGS:
Alignment is within normal limits.
Vertebral body heights are maintained.
No evidence for acute fracture.

C2-3: No significant disc disease or high-grade stenosis.

C3-4: No significant disc disease or high-grade stenosis.

C4-5: Broad-based disc bulge. Mild to moderate spinal canal stenosis. No neural foraminal stenosis.

C5-6: Severe disc degeneration. Broad-based disc bulge. Prominent osteophytosis. Moderate to severe spinal canal stenosis. Severe bilateral neural foraminal stenosis.

C6-7: Disc degeneration. Broad-based disc bulge. Moderate spinal canal stenosis. Moderate to severe bilateral neural foraminal stenosis.

C7-T1: No significant disc disease or high-grade stenosis.

Paraspinal soft tissues are within normal limits.

IMPRESSION:
1. No evidence for acute cervical spine abnormality.
2. Moderate to severe spinal canal stenosis at C5-6. Recommend MRI of the cervical spine for further evaluation.
3. Moderate spinal canal stenosis at C6-7.

---

I'm not at all sure how worried I should be.

In late October in the 1989 to 1992 (not sure which precise year) time frame, I had a bicycle accident in which I went over the handlebars and head first into the ground. The helmet I was wearing broke into three large pieces and several smaller pieces. The doctor didn't do any x-rays or anything and told me that I had a cervical sprain and told me that the amount of ibuprofen I was taking was not therapeutic, but didn't prescribe anything. I looked up the normal prescription dosage in my PDR and started using that amount for the next few days.

I'm curious if the accident could have been part of the cause of the disc issues. Also, as a kid, I went off a horse a few times and at least once landed on my head.

Any suggestions?

---

As a guy who has done insurance defense and now Plaintiff's personal injury for 30 years, I'd suggest getting hit by a well-insured tractor-trailer (and not getting any other injuries of course). Then you say you were asymtomatic before and then you just say you've become symptomatic now.

Had my MRI at 11 am this morning. It went pretty smooth. Next time, I'll ask for the MRI cut the music.

The only good thing about the music was that it let me estimate how long I'd been in there.

The let me keep my shoes and my levis on but made me take everything out of the pockets.

Quote:

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==============================================================================
R A D I O L O G Y R E P O R T
===============================================================================
EXAM: MRI SPINAL CANAL CERV W/O

INDICATION: {SPINE PROCED REASON: PAIN

COMPARISON: 8/11/2026.

TECHNIQUE: Multiplanar multisequence MR images of the cervical spine were
obtained without contrast.

FINDINGS:

Alignment is within normal limits. Vertebral body heights are maintained.

Bone marrow signal is within normal limits.

The posterior fossa and cervicomedullary junction are unremarkable. Cervical
cord appears normal signal intensity.

Paraspinal soft tissues are within normal limits.

C2-3: Unremarkable.

C3-4: Unremarkable.

C4-5: Partial endplate fusion with bridging osteophytes. Mild endplate
irregularity and uncovertebral hypertrophy with posterior disc bulge. Findings
cause severe left paracentral spinal stenosis. No significant foraminal
stenosis.

C5-6: Severe endplate irregularity and uncovertebral hypertrophy. Large
posterior disc bulge. Findings cause severe spinal stenosis and severe bilateral
foraminal stenosis.

C6-7: Fusion of the endplates and moderate uncovertebral hypertrophy. No
significant spinal stenosis. Severe bilateral foraminal stenosis.

C7-T1: Minimal endplate irregularity and posterior disc bulge. No significant
spinal stenosis. Moderate right and mild left foraminal stenoses.

IMPRESSION:
1. Multilevel degenerative changes of the cervical spine most pronounced at
C4-5 and C5-6 where there are severe spinal stenosis.

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While they didn't use a contrast on me, I am curious what kind of contrast they would use for an MRI.

Avoid red dye No. 5.

I just remembered something that may or may not be applicable.

I had a daily lower back pain for several years. It started a week or two after my thyroid failed. I went to the doctor's office multiple times about it, but they never found anything so I gave up on them.

The back pain went on for something ten or more years.

And then my back pain disappeared, practically overnight. Less than a week after some intense pains in my abdomen were diagnosed as being due to my gall bladder, my back pain disappeared over the course of about three to four days.

I can understand how the pain might have been the result of spinal issues, but I have no clue as to why it would suddenly disappear several years later over a short period of time and not return.

Most back pain actually isn't spinal, it's usually muscular or ligamentous in origin, though can eventually translate into spinal pain. Gallbladder pain does often radiate to the back though. But that is often the issue with diagnosing pain - it isn't as straight forward as people like to think it is.

traxter said:

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Most back pain actually isn't spinal, it's usually muscular or ligamentous in origin, though can eventually translate into spinal pain. Gallbladder pain does often radiate to the back though. But that is often the issue with diagnosing pain - it isn't as straight forward as people like to think it is.

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One odd thing about it was that pain started out on my left side for several months and then moved to my right side. I don't know if that is normal or not.

After many trips to the doctor, I saw one code on an insurance paper listing the diagnosis as being lumbar in origin (I forget the exact wording). I gave up on treatment for it after that and never brought it up directly again.

There was a few days in that ten years or so in which the pain just more or less let up. That was for a week or so starting with my first colonoscopy. I really loved that week. I jokingly asked the doctor if I could get a colonoscopy every week to treat the pain. After a week, though, it was back to normal.

My uninformed guess is that the pain may have let up with weight loss from not wanting to eat much because of the abdominal pain from the gall bladder issue. Then over the next year, I lost more weight due to my loss of appetite from a Vitamin B12 deficiency (according to the lab, below 159 pg/ml) leading to pernicious anemia.

By the way, during the MRI, I briefly had very a faint smell of burnt tissue, but it went away quickly.

My turn to share!

C7-8 radiculopathy after lifting then going to top golf. Severe pain down the lateral aspect of the right arm with numbness and tingling in finger 2 & 3. Started July 3. Did everything- steroids, naproxen, Gabapentin, chiro, accupuncture, massage.

Now the pain is gone but still have tingly fingers. I thought I had no strength loss until I started lifting again and noticed that my right side push strength is WAY down, about 30% less than my life with shoulder lifts, bench press, etc. I have visible atrophy of my right trap and tricep.

So get the neck MRI done and has some abnormalities as expected for a 54 year old prior football and lacrosse player. I have a neurosurgery visit pending in 6 weeks but I doubt I need any intervention unless the motor loss progresses.