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Old 05-10-2014, 04:25 PM
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mmglobal mmglobal is offline
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I had the same thing happen with me last year. A thoracic MRI showed a huge spot in my spinal canal where nothing had over ever been seen before. OMG... a tumor? OMG!!!

It turns out that CSF (cerebrospinal fluid) is pulsatile... you can feel the heartbeat in the thecal sac. That pulsing comes from the movement of spinal fluid. If the timing if an MRI slice is perfect, it can image a 'bubble' of CSF.

I spoke to the radiologist and he explained it, saying that this is common. I thought it was weird because I've looked at thousands of MRI's in the last 15 years and hadn't seen this. Amazingly, the very next MRI that a client sent me showed the same thing.

Interesting stuff!

Take care... you have a great weekend too.

Mark
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1997 MVA
2000 L4-5 Microdiscectomy/laminotomy
2001 L5-S1 Micro-d/lami
2002 L4-S1 Charite' ADR - SUCCESS!
2009 C3-C4, C5-C6-C7, T1-T2 ProDisc-C Nova
Summer 2009, more bad thoracic discs!
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