MRI terminology question

[Corriel]

Hi folks, I am trying to decipher a draft MRI report and whike it is my second MRI, it was only the first with MS protocol so the radiologist was not able to compare properly.

I was hoping to see info for the c spine but it only mentions the brain scan, I assume that is because it is only a draft or the lady at my neuro's office missed it in their system.

Anyway, a term came up a couple of times that I was not familiar with so I was hoping someone here could shed some light.

It was referencing existing lesions but described as them as "confluent" plaques. I researched the term but cannot find much beyond it meaning a merging of smaller lesions. Not sure if this is a typical term in radiology pertaining to MS or if merging is all that it means.

One is found in "left parietal white matter measuring 2 cm x 8 mm", and the other area is described as "A more prominent focus is seen anterior to the confluent focus in the left parietal pericallosal region measuring 8 mm with several other 2-3 mm foci evident with the largest on the right adjacent to the body of the callosum measuring 7 mm".

I am hoping the final report will be easier to comprehend but as things stand, I don't seem to understand this these parts of the draft.

Any help is greatly appreciated,
Corrie

[Maracamama]

So they didn't have the report done yet but gave you a draft of it?  I can't remember how long ago you had your MRI done but it usually only takes them about a week to have the report done.  It seems bizarre that they would even send a draft copy to anyone.

I don't really know the answer but I found a picture of different types of lesions and it included confluent lesion (which does seem to mean that they are grouping together or becoming joined).  It seems to come up a lot on sites talking about the elderly and strokes but it may also be common in MS.  Now let's see if I can get a link on here (no promises)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/tileshop_pmc_inline.html?title=Click%20on%20image%20to%20zoom&p=PMC3&id=2593803_nihms64612f1.jpg

I'm not sure if that worked.  I'll try in a message.

Laura

[Corriel]

Thanks! Visualizing it seems to help me make sense of it.

Corrie

[essdipity]

Hi. I don't know whether this helps, but according to numerous radiologists, these brain lesions are considered confluent, or flowing together.

http://www.medhelp.org/user_photos/show/489429?personal_page_id=4566

ess