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Are these MRI results normal?

Hello everyone, thank you for your time! I have been struggling with dizziness and have had many test which come back normal. My main concern is my MRI results. My doctor told me they were normal but after I personally looked over the results it doesn’t seem normal to me. This is what was written

The ventricles are normal in size and position. Indeterminate tiny
scattered foci of FLAIR hyperintensity within the right subinsular
region and right parietal subcortical white matter. Incidental finding
of mild left anterior hippocampal malrotation. Expected arterial
flow-voids are present. Small amount of fluid within the bilateral
mastoid air cells. Visualized paranasal sinuses are clear. Orbital
contents appear within normal limits.
Is this normal? Fluid? Malrotation? Hyperintensity? All these seems don’t seem normal to me and I would like to know what everyone else thinks. Thank you!
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Avatar universal
Hello Houston77. As I understand, you’re trying to find the cause of dizziness. If that’s your only symptom, given this MRI result it’s far too early to think that MS might be the cause. Dizziness isn’t usually the first symptom to show up, but more important is the language used in your MRI report. In MS the myelin coating on nerves is attacked, resulting in scarring, called lesions, that shows up on MRI images. A radiologist would normally use the words demyelinating and/or lesions to signal that MS or a similar disease was present. There’s no such language in your report. The only thing that even comes close is  “indeterminate tiny scattered foci of FLAIR hyperintensity.” FLAIR is a type of MRI scan and hyperintensity refers to bright spots (“foci”). But the key word is “indeterminate,” which probably means the spots didn’t resemble any known type of abnormality related to neurological conditions. Of course this is subject to what your doctors say. Also it’s not meant to trivialize  your dizzy spells and you should continue searching for the cause, and treatment if necessary. Good luck!
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987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi, from my understanding the things your concerned about wouldn't usually be classed as abnormal because they are typically incidental MRI finding generally without clinical significance ie a small amount of fluid signal in the mastoid air cells, mild left anterior hippocampal malrotation which can be an anatomic variant and "tiny" foci are usually ishaemic micro vascular white matter changes ...

Keep in mind IF your main concern is that your symptoms could be caused by a neurological condition like MS, these types of Brain MRI findings wouldn't be suggestive so it's highly likely that you are dealing with something else.

Hope that helps.....JJ


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3 Comments
Thank you for your response. Do you think any of these findings could cause dizziness or do you think they don’t cause any issues?
I honestly don't know much really, ok a quick google brings up fluid signal in the mastoid is associated with inflammatory disease of the middle ear or mastoid even though it generally is one of the incidental findings on MRI of the brain. Keep in mind that it only happen's in a small number of patients though and ear infections usually cause a lot more symptoms than just dizziness so it probably isn't but it's something to consider........JJ
Hello-when you said you've had testing...have you had the testing done of your vestibular system?  They would include-  Rotational Chair Testing, Videonystagmography Testing, Computerized Dynamic Posturography Testing, Audiometric (Hearing) Testing, Evoked Potential Testing.  I deal with dizziness and off balance (in addition to a ton of other symptoms) and was found to have 25% vestibular damage thru the testing I mentioned.  I also had abnormalities mentioned in the mastoids when I had a MRI.   Damage was supposedly caused by a "virus"...meaning, we aren't sure how/why it happened.  
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