scary MRI

[cmills]

Hello I am a 35yr old women with severe persistent Asthma.  I went to the ER on 8/6/08 because of a severe headache that my specialist believed was a adverse reaction to Xolair. (It is a IgE blocker).  At any rate the ER did a CT scan that came back abnormal.  Since then my doctor ordered an MRI the following is the Impression:

1.Bilateral cerebal white matter signal hyperintensity, particularly within the centrum semioval, and pons.  There is associated enhancement within the centum semiovale, more so on the right.  Differential considerations include demyelinating disorder such as MS, post viral sequelae, vasculopathy such as vasculitis and chronic headaches/migraine.  Clinical and laboratory correlation requested.

2.  Low signal intensity within the basal ganglia bilaterally, which would correlate to dense calcifications seen on recent CT dated 8/6/08.  Basal ganglia calcifications can be idiopathic, related to hypoparathyroidism, hyperparathyroidism, Fahr's disease, and post inflammatory conditions.  Clinical correlation requested.

My doctor has had all the metabolic test, serum tests, CBC etc and has ruled out any parathyroid problems.  That is when I was sent to a neurolgist.  He has begun treating me for the never ending head ache - which he believes is a result of the Xolair (which I have been taken off of) - because I never got headaches before I started taking it.  It has been a month and the headache seems to come and go now - no where near like it was so I feel like it is getting a bit better for the  most part.  I am however worried about the MRI findings.  Is this something I should be worried about or is it possible that it's nothing?

[Jules77733]

Have you looked into atherosclerosis or lupus? I was reading about these awhile ago since I have joint aches/pains that are part of a myriad of symptoms to some undiagnosed condition I have, and I recall reading that both of these cause white matter in the pons on an MRI. I only remember this because I had an MRI done and I looked at my images to see if I noticed anything the radiologist might've missed.

[DrNoopurMD]

Hi,

How are you?
At the moment the possibility of MS seems very thin. Since you do not have any neurological symptoms apart from the headache, it does not seem to be serious problem.

There can be many causes of white matter lesions like viral illnesses, chronic headache, migraine, diabetes, high BP, alcoholism, smoking, old age and MS and Alzheimer’s disease.
In your case it could be just due to headache. So please relax.
Hope this was helpful!