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Is There Increased Risk Of Rebleeding While Taking An MRI Scan?
Question: Thank you for your detailed answers to my questions. My sister is going for an MRI tomorrow - now it is at the 5 week mark. She has no history of high blood pressure. She is very concerned that another bleed will occur because no cause can be determined. When they did the original angiography test, apparently the pump wasnt working?? don't know exactly what that means but it meant that they could only image one side and found no evidence of malformations at that time. She is hoping that they do another MRI later if the blood is still present tomorrow and find the cause. My question is - what if they can't find a cause and there is no history of high blood pressure? How often in cases like that do bleeds occur again?
Brief Answer:
If no cause risk is very low.
Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for keeping in touch.
In case no cause for the bleed is found even after extensive testing then the risk of rebleeding is very low. You do not provide much information about the type of hemorrhage (subdural/subarachnoidal/parenchymal), or its location, but the risk is close of that of the general population.
However it is too early to think about that. In more than 85% of cases a cause is eventually found. At 5 weeks there may still be some blood and/or swelling and I think the MRI might not be enough to exclude it. If it comes negative I would do another MRI in 3 months and if that again is negative another Angiography at 6 months.
I am not sure what they meant by pump not working. Hopefully it was a technical difficulty of the machine as opposed to something related to your sister's anatomy such as tortuous blood vessels, which would mean a repeat angiography would be difficult as well. However it depends also on what part they failed to catheterize and image, if the hemorrhage is lateralized and they were able to do that particular side it is reassuring.
If no cause risk is very low.
Detailed Answer:
Hello and thank you for keeping in touch.
In case no cause for the bleed is found even after extensive testing then the risk of rebleeding is very low. You do not provide much information about the type of hemorrhage (subdural/subarachnoidal/parenchymal), or its location, but the risk is close of that of the general population.
However it is too early to think about that. In more than 85% of cases a cause is eventually found. At 5 weeks there may still be some blood and/or swelling and I think the MRI might not be enough to exclude it. If it comes negative I would do another MRI in 3 months and if that again is negative another Angiography at 6 months.
I am not sure what they meant by pump not working. Hopefully it was a technical difficulty of the machine as opposed to something related to your sister's anatomy such as tortuous blood vessels, which would mean a repeat angiography would be difficult as well. However it depends also on what part they failed to catheterize and image, if the hemorrhage is lateralized and they were able to do that particular side it is reassuring.
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Answered by
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