Question
Hi Leslie,
I'm a pediatric nurse and was recently rear ended. It was a commercial vehicle hauling a trailer whose brakes did not work. I immediately felt back pain in 3 separate places-cervical, thoracic and lumbar. I was pivoted to my left, checking my blind spot when he hit me. I went for an MRI due to severe point tenderness of my thoracic spine. They did the entire spine and found bulging discs in my cervical and lumbar spine. My t-spine had no herniated discs but interestingly showed a hemangioma and a 8mm elliptical shaped area full of fluid. Could this be causing my pain and if so, what could the fluid be. They  put markers on you for your MRI where the pain is and that fluid is where I am experiencing my pain. The radiologist was uncertain if it was of clinical significance or not. I know for a fact that the radiologist is fresh out of residency and may be a little green, so I would like a second opinion since this is  where I'm having so much pain.
Thanks for your help.

Answer
hi jorene-

not an area of much expertise for me, i'm afraid, but I'll give you the info i do have...

is the fluid filled area the hemangioma? Hemangioma are 'vascular anomalies', ranging from birthmark sorts of spots to deep ones, such as spinal hemangiomas. They are like benign tumors. Spinal Hemangiomas sometimes have no symptoms associated, sometimes have pain- they're often found when a person is being evaluated for back pain.

check this, halfway down the page:
http://www.back.com/causes-tumors-benign.html

beyond that, i know that hemangiomas contain alot of water which can be seen on...jeez...t2 weighted mris?  I'm stretching for the terminology associated with radiology, it's a weird language.

I assume you have a doc who ordered the mri? If so, see what their opinion is. Occassionally hemangiomas come from compression fractures which might be something to look for. It is rare that they will affect nerve functioning, but keep an eye out in case you should you have any tingling/numbness/loss of function

not sure i did you much good, but that's all i've got! let me know if you need further help- i might at least know where to look for it?
=)

good luck
leslie