What is a small brain lesion? Can you tell me what it means; what to expect; what it means...eg: cancer, etc.?

Question

Hi. Does it even mean anything? Nurse said radialogist said i had lesion or something else...and i won't see neurologist for a month or more. It mustn't be serious since they haven't rushed me to hospital, lol. I'm just trying to get a handle on this before i see him. How do 'they' handle it...or maybe they don't? Thanks for your time and efforts. ...anything u want to add, i'd appreciate and asap

Answer 1

Best to write down a list of questions and then call your doctor's office back. You can give the list of questions to the nurse and ask him/her to consult with the doctor and then get back to you.

Some questions might be,
1. What kind of lesion could it be (usually the radiologist will give the doctor a list of things that the lesion could be; based on what the doctor knows about you, he can usually narrow the list down some more)?
2. What is the neurologist likely to do? Some lesions seen on brain scan are meaningless and are simply referred to the neurologist to doublecheck. The neurologist then says, "Yup, nothing to worry about" and leave it at that. Other lesions are referred to the neurologist for further testing to determine what the lesion is. Other times, the scan is done for a particular purpose (e.g. unexplained headaches) and then shows a mild abnormality that's unrelated to the original problem. The patient is then referred to the neurologist - not because of the mild abnormality but rather because the doctor couldn't find an explanation for the original problem and is asking a specialist to take a crack at it.

"A small brain lesion" could refer to anything - best to ask your doctor's office what they meant when they said "small brain lesion" and ask if it's something that you should be worried about.

Answer 2

Small Lesion On Brain

Answer 3

I have multiple lesions on my brain. Multiple lesions usually indicate multiple sclerosis. Other times when there are a few or just one it can be caused by headaches. I would want to ask you why you had an MRI done. What were your symptoms. Lesions are not tumors, growths are tumors and if you saw any of your films you would be able to recognize a tumor and a lesion. Tumors show as a dark shadow and when large they are very visible and unmistakable on the MRI films. Lesions on the other hand appear as white marks on the films.
If it was a brain tumor or something that needed medical attention asap they would have called the neurologist and he would have had you admitted to the hospital.

Answer 4

A brain "lesion" is a nonspecific diagnosis. All it means is there is some sort of damage to a specific area in the brain. Typically, lesions are the remnants of strokes, head trauma, or a disease like MS.
If it was a brain tumor or cyst, they would have likely called it a "mass".

Answer 5

Dear MC, this is a great site with info about brain cancer that will help you. http://cancerhelp.awardspace.com/

Hope it helps, My best regards