Can MRI "see" Hydrops?

Hi,

I’m new here. Took a few Googles to find you, but what a great resource. Some of your stories are very moving.

I have just been diagnosed with Vestibular Migraine with associated Cochlear Hydrops.

I have had testing at a balance centre (warm/cold air and the test with the electrodes and the clicking noise) plus an MRI. References to Hydrops on this site say that the testing can give false positives. I got the impression that my ENT was showing me the MRI cross section where the ear canals are and indicating that this clearly showed the hydrops.

So I guess my questions are: Can you see hydrops on an MRI and how does Vestibular Migraine cause hydrops?

Many thanks

No. Sorry. Todd

They diagnosed my endolymphatic hydrops with the ECOG test, that could have been the one you are talking about with the clicking in the ear and the electrodes, it shows up on a computer screen in a graph form. First they said I had menieres, then endo hydrops.

Christine

Thanks to both respondents.

I am trying to understand where the hydrops fit into the picture. I am 100% certain that I have the migraine. However I have tinnitus/pressure etc in right ear, even though the ENT said that the hydrops is in the left. If I bring the migraine under control, will the hydrops resolve?

Yes, a sufficiently high resolution MRI can see Hydrops, but you rarely get those in a normal clinic setting. The regular MRI’s we get to rule out neuromas are way too low resolution to pick up hydrops.

The other issue is that whilst significant hydrops might be imaged, what happens if you just have elevated pressure and no significant distension, then that would surely be hard to “visualise” as pressure will not show up as an image?