MRI scans

[jaffa12]

if you have been given a diagnosis of Ataxia does it always show up on an MRI scan. Can you have ataxia and still have a normal scan?

[HarryB Administrator]

Dear jaffa12

Thank you for your question. There are lots of different causes of ataxia (which can be a symptom of lots of different disorders) with which an MRI scan can be normal. However I understand that a normal MRI is unusual in cerebellar ataxia, but the degree of atrophy/shrinkage of the cerebellum seen on an MRI does not always correlate to how severe the symptoms are.

Harriet

[Thurgolady]

Prof Hadjivassiliou (neurologist with special interest in ataxia) said that damage to the cerebellum from gluten ataxia may not show on a normal MRI scan but only on the specific scan used to look for this damage - I think its a T3 scan.