CINE MRI vs Flow Study

[Guest guest]

<< I have what may seem to be a silly question for some, but here goes....is

a CINE MRI and a flow study the same thing? If not, what is the difference?

>>

Kim They are used as terms to mean the same thing within our chiari related

slang on wacma . Another term you may hear /read used for this sort of MRI

study is " cardiac gated csf flow study " ...the way these study's are done a

finger clip or ekg type leads are placed on your chest to monitor your

heartrate . This signal is sent to the computer that renders the MRI immage

at the same time as the computer is recieving the regular MRI info during a

scan .

Another Q I had was how do you pronounce CINE ....it's named after the same

word root as Cinema like the movie term /word :-) I confused one doctor by

asking for this study pronoucing it wrong guessing ...tehehe .

Other than the leads to capture your heart rate the MRI feels the same as a

regular one . The the computer " grabs " immages during various phases of

your heart beating and spits out a carton like series of immages showing the

csf moving along both during the time your blood is pushed along and during

the resting phase of your heart ....they can see the csf move in whats called

a bolus ( sort of like a gulp of fluid moving if you immaging swollowing some

water and seeing it move down your throat to your stomache ) .

This allows the doctor to look for any areas where that csf movement is

blocked to some degree ..sort of like seeing a boulder in a river and water

backing up /becoming turbulent and forcing its way around the obstructed (

that boulder ) with greater force ( they feel this greater force is what MAY

cause a syrinx to form too .

In looking at the series of immages if played as a video taped loup ...it's

easy to see and understand the immages - this isn't the common format

provided to your doctor but they can frequently view this on a computer using

the file the computer created at the radilology lab if they want to see it

" in motion " .

As cartoon like still series I've found it much harder to understand until my

physician showed me exactly how to " see " and understand the MRI pictures .

Once obstructed areas were pointed out to me /it all made sense in that

series of still immages .

I've learned to ask any doctor looking at my MRI's to show me exactly what

they find ...some seemed suprised when I ask but every doctor has done so .

It helped me greatly to grasp /understand more by doing this ...that sense of

unreality and disbelief /trust issues was replaced when I myself could see

and grasp the problems too .

There is a better scientific explaination of how all this works in the ASAP

web pages - I used my own understanding to explain this . It was considered

expermental for the last few years as the " protacols " to use this newer

technology were developed ...and not all neurosurgeons use this study still .

It does take experience to understand the immages well /and even experience

in DOING the study - Your body positioning can impact the study for example (

mine were repeated three times at a major university in part because they

were new to the doing Cine CSF flow studies and technitions /doctors

THOUGHT they'd gotten good immages but my neurosurgeon was unhappy with the

pics . The reports stated my flow was normal on all three /YET the

neurosurgeon showed me the problems and even I could clearly see them when

pointed out to me when the last good immages were obtained - this experience

drove home that concept that experience learning to use the technology DOES

matter .

It's not uncommon when you get a CINE study done at a hospital or MRI center

fairly new at doing these studies to need them repeated / One reason to

consider getting them done at an experienced center right from the get go

/even if that means traveling to get them done where the techs have been

trained ( my neurosurgeon does prefer if possible they be done where he has

worked with the techs to understand both the body positioning AND where they

can have you wait a bit while the computer finnishes rendering the info into

the immages so it can be repeated THEN if needed .

So I hope that proves a bit helpful in understanding both how they are done

/and perhaps saves mulitple attempts to get those good immages too ....I

should add that one good thing came from having them repeated over a six

month time frame too though ...there was clear PROGRESSION of my herniation

with the tonsils growing more compressed /pointed and deeper ect ..more

molded and jamed in tighter that helped both the doctor and I feel it was

clear surgery was a good idea /when coorelated with my progression of

symtpoms . ...There's always a bright side >LOL .

in Paradise

[Guest guest]

I have what may seem to be a silly question for some, but here goes....is a CINE

MRI and a flow study the same thing? If not, what is the difference?

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Kim Licence

ACM I, 7-8 mm (dx Jul 01)

Mild symptoms, no surgery

Richmond, VA