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What Causes Bulging Disc And Could It Be Atypical Hemangioma?

Posted on Tue, 7 Jan 2014

Question: I had a MRI for a nagging disc problem from 15 years ago. The area started hurting agian so I had a MRI. The MRI noted the bulging disc, but it also said something to the effect of 1 CM lession hypo intense T1 and hyper intense on T2 (something like that) it then said may be "ATYPICAL HEMANGIOMA" consider bone scan for evaluation. I went to a Neuro and he set up a bone scan for tomorrow....this has me worried sick. In my mind the more they look, the more they will find....what should I expect?I forgot to mention my bulging disc is @ c6-C7. The lesion was found at C3

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (3 hours later)

Brief answer....in general atypical hemangiomas are not to be worried as in most cases they are benign in nature. Detailed answer.... Hello, Thanks for the query. Hemangiomas are mass of blood vessels and are incidentally found on CT or MRI. In most cases they don't cause any problem but if they become big then they may cause pain or numbness. In general these hemangiomas are benign in nature but sometimes they can be cancerous.A bone scan shall tell about that. Treatment is generally done by pain killers if pain is the problem but if the hemangioma is big and causing compression and pain and numbness,then treatment can be done by radiotherapy or vascular embolisation or even surgical resection. I understand your anxiety on this issue but remain calm as most of the times,this is benign in nature. Get your scan done tomorrow and wait for the result. We can discuss again after you get the report. I hope it helps,however you may revert to me for any further query. Best of luck Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (14 hours later)

Why are they doing a full body bone scan instead of just a scan of the area of concern?? Should I ask for a change order for area of concern only?

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (13 minutes later)

Hello, A bone scan uses an isotope which is injected intravenously and this isotope gets deposited more in areas of bone which are most active.This activity means where bone cells are breaking or repairing more.This activity happens more in cases of cancer or some infection or damage to bone. This isotope emits radioactivity which is then detected by special scanners. Since isotope is injected in blood which distributes it to all parts of body,a selective area of bone can not be visualised.Moreover the cancer cells can get lodged in any part of any bone of body,scan of entire bony structure is required. Thanks

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar

Follow up: Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (7 hours later)

I had my bone scan today. Very comfortable and took 25 mins. After the full body scan, the tech positioned the scanners to look at the left than right side of my neck. Is this because the 1 CM lesion was on the side of the C3 vertebral body or is there a Chance he spotted an issue? My anxiety is still very high!!

Answered by Dr. Pavan Kumar Gupta (49 minutes later)

Hello, There is nothing unusual in seeing both sides of neck and I don't find anything unusual in this,however it would be very premature on my part to comment further on this issue.The best would be to wait for the reports and then discuss about it. Best of luck Thanks

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar