Hey everyone! Happy New Year!I’ve been a little anxious/ excited about my appointment this month,. I’ve been having neurological issues ( seizures, memory and left side issues) since April and I’ve felt like I’ve been on a roller coaster. I’ve been treated for half a dozen things, gone to many doctors, taken all over, to finally be diagnosed with a brain AVM. But the thing is I’m looking at my MRI and CT scans and I’m confused because they don’t look like anything I see online. It’s pretty much a white line in my frontal lobe. I know I should just wait to see my neurologist to ask questions. But I’m curious what you all know/ think about what unruptured brain AVMs look like. I’m looking at it and thinking how could something that looks so small and insignificant cause so much damage?
I wish I would have thought to get mine. I have read the report over and over and every time I find something new. I suppose just let it to the pros to explain it to you. Good luck!
On my MRI I just see a “void” where the bleed was and where my AVM is located. I have a copy of my angio and that is where I can see the vessels and the snarl. I wasn’t diagnosed with and AVM until the emergency angio. The CT told them I had a bleed, the MRI showed where, and the angio showed why - the AVM vs aneurysm. John
It depends on the type of scanning that is being done by the MRI. In most of the ones I’ve seen or read about, white indicates high flow blood – i.e. arterial flow. When you see white where there isn’t an artery, you have to suspect an AVM. Perhaps the more interesting thing is the straightness of the line – it is not showing a knot of veins, a “nidus” – but then an MIR scan is a very thin slice through your head, there may be more complex views on other slices.
Thanks Dick, that makes more sense.