Why might my son be having an mri scan?

My son has had enurisis and constipation as long as we remember, and he is now 8. We have been refurred to the paeditrician and he has had various medication to try and stop the condition but nothing seems to be working. When we went for a check up today the paediatrician mentioned that he has small leg calf muscles and that coupled with the enurisis and constipation, he wants his to have an mri scan. My son was there so i didnt want to ask too many questions as i didnt want to scare him but i do wonder why he is being sent for a scan. anyone any wiser on the subject than me? anyone had the same problem?

MRI scans are usually done when the cause of an illness is unknown, the test is extremely expensive and is only done usually if there are a lot of symptoms hence the MRI scan is quicker than several tests or the tests have been done and nothing has been found. MRI covers the whole body so usually turns up whatever the cause is. Try not to worry, the scan is a fast way of finding answers, fingers crossed for you and your son.

mri scans give the doctors a good picture of the 'inside' of a person. It sounds like they're not sure what the problem is and want to do the mri to see if anything unusual shows up on it. I imagine it will be for diagnostic purposes, to try and pinpoint the problem. I'm sure the Doctor would be willing to see you alone to answer your questions, if you contacted him again. Hope all goes well.

because muscles don't show up on xray but during an mri, it focuses on muscles

i just had one, probely the muscles some time the muscles are not matureing fast enough. or it could be the stomach muscles that are not growing fast enough. if you are worried and i think you should call the doc up and fine out so you want have to worry. good luck.

MRI scans are more detailed and safer than CT scans because it does not involve radiation Xrays.

I had one a while ago on my shoulder.Displaced from twist and
I've had the problem years.I lay down and they slid me under a
machine for 15-20 minutes..But if it's the calf muscles,maybe he won't have to.Any way i had ear plugs and
a button in my hand in case i panicked.They tell you how long the scan will last.Then they tell you the next.Seconds to minutes.It's like a dream when you don't know if you
sleeping or not.There is no pain for him to worry about.In fact
when he hears the drone of the machine.It will be the conversations for a while.They ask if you have had metal in the
eye because it interferes with the scan if an object has been.
They will also inject him with coloured liquid(purple i think)so
it shows how things are working on the scan.Sooner it's done.The sooner they will know what needs to be done.If any
thing.Lets hope nothing serious.All the best to him and yourself.

Hi there

Obviously, first of all the best person to be asking is the paediatrician. I suspect that he may be looking for a neurological (nerve) cause to your son's problems. The nerves that supply the calf muscles come from the lumbar and sacral region (low back and pelvis). The nerves which control the bladder and bowel sphincters also come from the sacral region. Potential cauda equina problems need to be checked out. Hope this helps.

Regards