Degenerative Disc Disease, Spine MRI

Degenerative Disk Disease - Spine MRI explanation - Degenerative Disc Disease

Hello I am 44 yr old woman who has multiple sclerosis. I suffer from horrible chronic back pain. Below is results from my mri. Does anyone recognise what any of it means??? Looks greek to me! Does it seem like surgery would fix any of it or another therapy maybe? ?I take many pain meds a day but still suffer 24/7…..

mild to moderate sigmoid scoliosis, multi level discogenic change with marginal spurring,
multilevel degenrative disease,broad based central disc potrusion l5-s1 with mild degerative
change and moderate bilateral lateral recess encrouchment, left lateral disc potrusion l4-5
with encroachment at l4 nerve root,moderate ddd at t11-12 with protrusion, potrusions at t12-l1 and l1-2 with
narrowing and partial degen. desiccation l3-4 diffuse bulge,at l4-5 there is left disc extrusion
with cranial migration of herniated disc material with displacement of perineural fat ventral to the exiting l4 nerve root,
ddd noted l5-s1 broad based central disc potrusion and facet hypertrophywith moderate encroachments,
bilateral neural foraminal stenosis

Doctor Joshua’s Answer:

I’m wondering why your doctor hasn’t explained the MRI to you. Based on the MRI report alone, I cannot give any treatment suggestions, but I can try to help you understand the report.

Scoliosis:
You have some curvature of your spine, which is not altogether uncommon, and as such does not necessarily require treatment.

Multilevel degenerative disease:
There is degeneration in your lumbar spine and degenerative disc disease- meaning it is either worn out or degenerated by some other process. This is also a common finding.

L5-S1:
There is a bulging disc in the lowest level of the lumbar spine, which is causing some tightness in the structures through which the nerves (that go to your lower leg/foot area) pass, on both sides. This may or may not cause symptoms. There is tightness on both sides in the structures, and also in the middle, so if you have either L5 (front of shin, front-outer part of foot) pain or S1 (Back of thigh/back of calf, outer part of sole) pain, or weakness of L5 (difficulty standing on heel) or S1 (difficulty standing on toes), this finding may be significant and may require treatment.

L4-L5:
There is disc bulging here, too, and it’s causing tightness on the left side where the nerve passes. At this level there is also a clear disc herniation (prolapse) which may compress the L4 nerve. This nerve supplies the quadriceps femoris muscle, which is the muscle bundle that extends the knee. If you have pain on the outer part of the thigh, and inner part of the shin/calf area, and/or weakness of extending the knee (sitting down, raising the leg straight in the air), this may be a significant finding and may require treatment.

T11-L4:
On these levels (the upper part of lumbar spine and lowest part of thoracic spine) there seems to be no remarkable findings, but general signs of degeneration and degenerative disc disease.

In summary, there are findings in the lower lumbar spine that, if they are accompanied by corresponding clinical symptoms and findings upon physical examination, may require surgical treatment.

The MRI report alone is not sufficient to evaluate the need for treatment. History and physical examination is always required.

Please read also the following answers to learn more about this sort of problems:
Spine surgery and chronic pain
Low Back Pain