Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I had an MRI 8 years ago, and have dealt with pain in my back that would band around to my lower rib age and abdomen. I have dealt with it basically by strengthening my back. I m 38 years old and in good shape with no other health conditions, other than sinus bradycardia. Lately the pain has increased and I have felt numbness in my small toes of my right foot and all my toes in my left except my big toe. Also I have had increased urination worse in early morning going some cases 4 times in an hour. The MRI results are as follows: Dessication of D3-4, D4-5,D5-6,D6-7,and D9-10. Some minimal posterior projection of discovertebral material at D3-4,D4-5. Also early osteophyte formation. At the D7-8 level on the right there is minimal undulation of the posterior margin of the discovertebral complex with equivocal findings of small protrusions. At te D8-9 level there is undulation of the posterior aspect of the discovertebral complex at the foraminal entrance with projections of the spinal canal possible neural encroachment. At the D9-10 level, there is asymmetry of the disc with posterior projections of discovertebral material extending from right paracentral region to the foraminal exit which is suspicious for an area of soft disc protrusion. This is about 1.3 cm in transverse dimension and about 5 mm in AP dimension. There is compression of exiting D9 nerve root on the right. Are the new symptoms likely related to the disc degeneration or neural or nerve root impingement? What should I do?
[|AI|]  Hi there. Thanks for your question at Chat Doctor. Compression in thoracic spine can be associated with numbness of legs/ foot with bowel or bladder disturbances(as in your case). But the findings in your 8-year-old MRI do not seem significant enough to attribute your current symptoms to sucChatDoctorpression(the dimensions mentioned in the MRI needs to be correlated with your background and dimensions of surrounding structures. Since the MRI is 8 years old, I would suggest you to get a new MRI after meeting your physician. We also need to rule out other conditions which can lead to your current symptomatology (naturopathies as in Diabetes Mellitus). Any new symptom in the background of such an MRI needs further evaluation for sure. Hope this helps. All the best. Regards.  Chat Doctor.