My mom had an MRI last night and they were almost done, and then pulled her out and said there was something going on and they needed to use dye. She has one wrist that is really bad (RA, lots of swelling) so they injected it in the other wrist. Of course the tech wouldn't tell her anything, and said she'd have to talk to her doc--appointment next Thursday. She's stressing out about this big time. She even called me this morning and asked me to ask a friend of mine who's a nurse if she would know anything about why they'd do that. The MRI was for problems in the upper spine (clavical?). I told her they probably did the dye just so they could see things better. Anyone have any experience with anything like this? She's worried she has cancer or something (we've lost a lot of family members to cancer including my dad--her husband, and her brother). TIA for any thoughts.

By Colette on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 10:05 am:

If it was something serious, the MRI tech would have notified her doctor right away. If her dr hasnt called her, it probably isnt to serious. Since she is concerned, she should call her doctor today and tell him/her what happened and how upset she is.

By Mommmie on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 10:15 am:

I think using dye is pretty typical for an MRI. I think it gives some kind of contrast. Hopefully, someone else will have better info....

By Cat on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 10:37 am:

I guess a call to her doc wouldn't hurt. I'll call her later (she's at work right now). Thanx, Gals.

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 10:41 am:

I think using dye is quite common. When I had my MRI last year I was injected with dye. Everything ended up being fine. Usually the dye is part of the doctors orders on the paper work. I hope everything is ok. Let us know what she finds out.

By Karen~moderator on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 11:08 am:

Using the dye is for *MRI's with contrast*. This is done usually when there is a previous surgery, or scar tissue involved, and certainly other reasons I'm not familiar with. Using the dye is sometimes helpful when comparing to previous MRI's, in that the dye will attach to certain things, thus showing changes between that one and the previous one.

By Ginny~moderator on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 11:26 am:

The dye is definitely for contrast to make a clearer picture. I recently had an ultrasound of my abdomen and contrast dye was used. I have had other radiology procedures where dye is used. The only concern is if someone is allergic to the dye, which used to be common but is now very rare as they have changed the chemicals they use, and any allergic reaction shows up almost immediately. If your mom is having spinal problems, the purpose of the dye may be to make it even clearer to differentiate between bone, nerve, muscle, disk, etc. It's a shame the tech didn't just explain that it is for contrast to make a clearer picture - that certainly should not violate the doctor/patient relationship and is simply information about a technique, not medical advice.

By Cat on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 11:53 am:

I guess she's not working today. She just called me again! Anyway, I told her to call the doc and she said they wouldn't have any results yet and I said no, but they could tell you why they did that and if it was normal. She agreed and said she'd call. Then she said, "I'm just your parinoid mother." I said, it happens. She stresses so easily. Hopefully she'll find something to do today to take her mind off it. Thanx again.

By Kaye on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 01:16 pm:

Just a couple of reaaauring stories. My son has JRA they did an MRI of his knee, they did tell me up front they may or may not need the dye. so he had hte MRI, they came back in the room and said we need to do the dye. I kind of jumped to the same conclusion, somethings wrong. Well nope, they just couldn't see very well, no biggie. Second story, my step mom had a head mri done, to look at her arteries, kind of routine. Well before she got home several hours later her doc had called, they found brain cancer. I guess what happened is the MRI tech saw something, immediately called in a the radiologist and then her doc, my point is when things are cancer bad, they don't wait, she would have been called already!

By Trisa on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 02:55 pm:

So sorry they are making her wait like this.
Please tell us when you know anything more.

By Luvn29 on Tuesday, February 3, 2004 - 08:19 pm:

Like everyone has said, it is a common procedure with MRI's. I have had several done because of my medical problems and have had dye everytime. They don't have to use it in some cases, sometimes, as someone mentioned above, it is a "wait and see" approach taken.

I understand the worrying. They really do not give enough proper explanations when doing medical procedures and cause unneccessary worrying because they don't take the time to explain things...

good luck and prayers that you find out good news soon!

By Cat on Friday, February 13, 2004 - 01:32 pm:

Update: My mom has a Cervical Synovial Cyst. She needs to see a nueroligist (sp?) now. For some reason the lab sent the written results to her instead of the doctor and she read in there her white blood cell count is low. Not increadibly low, just a tad lower than the "normal" range. I told her that could be some of the meds she's on or an effect of the RA. She's going to ask. Thanx for all your concern and prayers.