I was able to get the official report from the radiology office. The images are actually pretty disturbing. A spot that was just a shadow on previous scans is now a large, bright mass on the latest one. So here's the main points of the report.
They performed multiplanar and multisequence MRI (before and after contrast), perfusion scan, and MR spectroscopy.
The mass is 3.5cm x 2cm x 2.5cm (as opposed to 1.5cm x 1.0cm x 1.0cm in 2007). There's medical jargon about the location and the effect of pushing other parts of the brain from their normal location. There is no swelling (this is good news). There is mild increased blood flow to the perimeter of the mass (bad news). And then some more medical jargon about a ratio that indicates it is consistent with a glioma. The report says the mass "has now dedifferentiated into a more aggressive glioma, likely a grade 2 or 3."
So there's that. I'm assuming it's pretty serious since I was able to get a consult with the head neurosurgeon at Johns Hopkins Brain Tumor Center within 48 hours of my scan, and a neurosurgeon from Georgetown in the next 24 hours. More details about my JH consult in the next post.
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