Reading an MRI

[kathy g]

Thanks everyone for suggestions that I read my own MRI scan.  I looked at it and could NOT figure it out.

I read most of the entries in this discussion board about the subject, some of the images online I could not access.

Can anyone suggest a good place I could read about  and view an MRI scan with an AN?

Also, is the blob at the end with a whole in it supposed to be just the AN?  Is that were you can see if it is dying?

This will be empowering.

Best,

Kathy

[leapyrtwins]

Personally, I think that MRIs are best read by professionals - better to get an accurate reading that way - but I know from viewing my diagnostic MRI that an AN (especially when gadolinium contrast has been used) is usually very evident.

Jan

[Jim Scott]

Kathy ~

While I agree with Jan that the reading of MRI scans are best left to medical professionals, I can understand your curiosity.

On that basis I'm including a link to an acoustic neuroma education site that includes MRI photos of a patient with an acoustic neuroma, artist renderings of an AN, charts and graphs as well as lots of reading that will keep you occupied.  http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/tumors/acoustic_neuroma.htm

I trust this will help you in your quest to decipher your MRI scan. 

Jim

[Migoi]

After my plain vanilla ENT diagnosed I had an AN, he referred me to an ENT with a lot more experience with them. At this point I hadn't seen the MRI or been told explicitly which side the AN was on.

When I was shown into the office, my MRI was on the computer screen. I could clearly see my name and played the "how are these different" game in looking at the two sides of my brain. It was quite easy to see the white glob on the left side of the screen that wasn't on the right side of the screen. There is was, just inboard of my left ear...which made sense since the trigger to getting the MRI was that the hearing in my left ear was worse than in my right ear.

Doc comes in and we start discussing stuff. He points to the screen and says "Here it is, in the IAC of your right ear." Right ear? Yep, I had assumed the MRI images were oriented as if you were looking down from the top of your head toward your feet....they are not. The images are oriented so as to be looking up from your feet toward your head. What's on the left side of the computer screen is actually on the right side of your head.

After I had made the decision to have it out, in the final discussions with the neurosurgeon, we brought the head of the imaging department into the room and used other abnormalities in my skull to verify that the MRI was from the standard perspective of feet to head and that yes, my AN was actually on my ear with the better hearing.

While understanding the whole process is interesting and a bit empowering, my base thought is that if I don't trust the folks I've hired to resolve this thing enough to correctly read the images...then I'm sure not trusting them enough to pop the hood and stroll around my brain pan or send high speed nuclear particles zipping through my repository of totally useless knowledge (some useful stuff in there also, but as Cyrilee can attest...lmy brain has lots of trivial items with no practical value).

A small post-op note...my hearing in my AN ear is still better than my in my non-AN ear...that whole surgical entourage was pretty darn good at their jobs apparently.

..take care... tim b