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What Does This Brain CT Scan Test Result Indicate?
My mom recently fell hard, hit her head and received 2 staples. The CT head/brain without contrast reads...Moderate white matter hypodensities are seen in the deep, periventricular and subcortical white matter with volume loss and old lacunar type infarcts in the basal ganglia. There is mild global volume loss. Chronic microangiopathic changes in the old lacunar type infarcts and mild global volume loss.
Tue, 3 Apr 2018
Hello,
In relation to the fall that she took the CT scan doesn't show any damage due to the hit, none of those findings are related to the trauma, they were already present before she fell and hit her head. The findings are due to chronic changes in the brain matter and its blood vessels. Chronic microangiopathic changes are changes to the small blood vessels. To a point, they are genetically determined and are found in many people as they age. They are accelerated by factors affecting blood vessels such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol etcetera. So the only thing that can be done to slow down this process is checking for the presence of those factors and addressing them when present.
As for the mild volume loss that means the mild shrinking of the brain. Again that is part of aging, all of us start to lose brain cells after our thirties, so as we age volume loss accumulates. So that finding depends a little on her age which you do not mention, the older she is the more such volume loss is expected. The report speaks of mild volume loss so no reason for major concern on that regard, the blood vessel changes which I addressed first are what needs to be dealt with.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Olsi Taka
In relation to the fall that she took the CT scan doesn't show any damage due to the hit, none of those findings are related to the trauma, they were already present before she fell and hit her head. The findings are due to chronic changes in the brain matter and its blood vessels. Chronic microangiopathic changes are changes to the small blood vessels. To a point, they are genetically determined and are found in many people as they age. They are accelerated by factors affecting blood vessels such as high blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol etcetera. So the only thing that can be done to slow down this process is checking for the presence of those factors and addressing them when present.
As for the mild volume loss that means the mild shrinking of the brain. Again that is part of aging, all of us start to lose brain cells after our thirties, so as we age volume loss accumulates. So that finding depends a little on her age which you do not mention, the older she is the more such volume loss is expected. The report speaks of mild volume loss so no reason for major concern on that regard, the blood vessel changes which I addressed first are what needs to be dealt with.
Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further.
Regards,
Dr. Olsi Taka
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