Question
Hello, Can you please help me understand my mri?
The cervical vertebral bodies are intact with a slight reverse lordosis and minimal marginal endplate spondylosis c5-c6 and c6-c7.
At c6-c7 there is a tiny posterior midline disc herniation and annular tear effacing the ventral the calsac.
The central canal is developmentally adequate.
The cervical cord is normal in morphology and signal intensity.
The craniocervical junction is unremarkable.
The visualized regional soft tissues suggesting maybe mild thyromegaly, requiring correlation. Thank you for your time.

Answer
Dear Dennis,

The cervical vertebral bodies are intact with a slight reverse lordosis and minimal marginal endplate spondylosis c5-c6 and c6-c7:  The curve in your neck has changed to the opposite direction (reversed lordosis).  Additionally, there are minimal degenerative changes to the top and bottom surfaces of the vertebra.

At c6-c7 there is a tiny posterior midline disc herniation and annular tear effacing the ventral thecal sac:  the disk is made of two separate tissue types.  The outside is fibrous and tough, the inside is more gelatinous.  So the outside of the disk has been torn and is bulging rearward into the covering of the spinal cord.

The central canal is developmentally adequate:  Normal presentation

The cervical cord is normal in morphology and signal intensity. Normal presentation

The craniocervical junction is unremarkable:  The joints located at the base of the skull and top of neck are normal in presentation

The visualized regional soft tissues suggesting maybe mild thyromegaly, requiring correlation:  They see some signal difference or swelling/enlargement near the location of the thyroid gland in the neck.  This is non-specific which means the radiologist want to clinically correlate with any presenting problems you may have in relation to thyroid dysfunction.  This is done with a history of possible thyroid symptoms with your doctor, and simple blood tests to measure your circulating thyroid hormone levels.

The disc herniation at C6/C7 is the most prominent finding.  The thyroid issue should be followed up on, and again a simple blood test can check it out.  For more information on disc bulging, you can check out my website.  I have an entire page on disc bulges/herniations with illustrations.

Hope this helps Dennis.

Respectfully,
Dr. J. Shawn Leatherman
www.suncoasthealthcare.net