My 65-year-old mother has a spine problem with MRI changes. Kindly help me.

Question

Hello doctor,

My mother is having a spine problem. We had done MRI, in that we found few problems in the spine as below:

1) Diffuse disc bulge.

2) Spondylotic change at multiple lumber levels.

3) Bilateral facet arthropathy (L>R).

4) Disc osteophyte complex noted, levels causing indentation over thecal sac and spinal cord. Reduced disc height noted at multiple cervicals levels with loss of cervical lordosis.

5) Disc bulge noted at few dorsal levels with indentation over the thecal sac.

I am attaching the reports. Kindly give your opinion and suggestions.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

If your mother is 64-year-old, then this is not unusual for her age. However, you have not mentioned any of her symptoms like back pain, stiffness, leg pain, numbness, weakness in legs, etc.

There are only two actionable points that I can see without seeing the films and getting to know the event symptoms:

1) You need to start her on physiotherapy and give her antiinflammatory tablets if her medical condition permits.

2) The disc osteophyte complex needs to be assessed if this is causing nerve irritation and leg symptoms like pain, weakness, etc., as this may be something that needs attention. Rest all the MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) findings (attachments removed to protect the patient's identity) are age-related and need not be treated specifically unless facets arthropathy is responsible for back pain.

I hope this was helpful.