Trying to choose between "Ain't Technology Grand" and "Ever Looked at Your Brain?".

Got my 'head examined' yesterday. MRI. (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). A long story, but the Reader's Digest version is that I got a new General Practitioner (GP Dr.) recently, and when she heard that my mother died of a stroke (brain aneurysm) at 33, AND that I had that 'eye incident' last year, she said she would "feel better" if I got an MRI of my head. Since the VA was going to do it, and it was therefore free, I said "sure". However, later that day, I wondered to myself, "Why?". What were 'they' going to do if they found 'something'? They certainly weren't going to operate on my brain. I assumed they would just say something useless like "Try not to get excited". The followup appointment with the GP isn't until Jan 16. However...

When one gets an MRI - or any other form of medical imaging for that matter - one can, and should, request a copy of the results. I have yet to see even a raised eyebrow in response to the request, and this case, even though it was the VA, was no exception. It took them about a minute to burn a CD of pictures of my brain. VERY interesting, at least to me. Here's are a couple of composites of blood vessels and a 'slice' through my eyeballs.









I suppose these might be akin to looking at baby pictures - only interesting to the parents - but I thought there was a small chance that some might find them interesting in general.

Paul

I wish I knew what I was looking at.

I hope everything checks out okay.

Everybody's a comedian (or comedienne as the case may be). But... good clean fun nonetheless!

One of the things I found interesting was that the venation wasn't 'dendritic' in nature, (branching like a tree with finer and finer bifurcations). Instead, the veins and arteries just get smaller and smaller. I had an MRI of my left knee at the same time, and the vascular pattern is different - more dendritic - in the knee.

Paul

I'm much more interested in what the knee MRI reveals than the head MRI. I don't know when the images will be 'read' by the Dr., but sometime before Jan 15, as that is when my appointment is. (They'll probably have a look right before the appointment. ) There was nothing 'special' that caused the order of the MRI for my head other than the Dr.'s desire to be "safe" after hearing that my mother died of a stroke at 33 AND that I had the "eye stroke" last year. Since I was already getting an MRI of my knee, she ordered one for my head.

I wouldn't have agreed to a 'casual' CT-Scan of my head, as those use "ionizing radiation" - AKA x-rays. CT-scans expose one to WAY more radiation than a typical x-ray. I can't remember the increase in dose, but I think it is equivalent to the "acceptable" annual dose. The statistics on cancers CAUSED by CT-scans state that the probability of getting cancer in the 20 years following a CT-scan is about 1 in 2000. Personally, I find that figure unacceptably high EXCEPT when there are KNOWN issues and the CT-scan will allow Dr.s to have a much better understanding (look) or make a clear diagnosis. There was nothing specific the Dr. was looking for with this MRI of my head except - I think - maybe aneurysms. I am in no way qualified to read "x-rays", but I don't see any obvious bulges in any of these images. I THINK if the technician had seen anything 'exciting', I would have heard from the Dr. PDQ.

MRIs don't use ionizing radiation, so there is no 'dose' associated with them and no known adverse affects of getting stuck inside a giant magnet for 20 minutes.

Paul

Paul I've had three MRI's of my brain in the past two years. The last one a couple weeks ago. They're just keeping track of the brain tumor I have. So far it hasn't changed. The noise from the MRI doesn't bother me & I usually take a  short nap while the girls run me thru. .....Paul H

QuoteThe noise from the MRI doesn't bother me & I usually take a short nap while the girls run me thru.

Exactly! They're always apologizing for it and asking if I'm "OK". More than once, they woke me up!

Paul

So I finally got the brain MRI 'read', and to quote the doctor, "The area in your brain we would be concerned about vascular concerns looks good."

The "area" they looked at is called the "Circle of Wills". So I got on the internet and 'looked' around at the circle of Willis. Again, I don't know what they would of done/said if it hadn't 'looked good'. The Circle of Willis is right in the center of mass of the brain. If there had been a 'problem', what could they have done? I'll ask them the next time I see them.

Paul