Reply To: Diagnosis Help

The questions you are asking and the answers you seek should come from a Neurologist who specializes in CIDP. Better yet, find a neuromuscular CIDP specialist if you can.

This web site has links to Centers of Excellence. Go to one if you can. GBS lasting longer than a few months is generally considered to have become CIDP.

Certainly, everyone’s case is different. MRI with gallidium enhancement was used during my diagnosis. It seems to me those results were not helpful. A normal MRI likely won’t show much nerve damage.

One NIH study on galladium enhancement reports “MRI results were correlated with data collected from chart review. Enhancement of the cauda equina was seen in 11 of 16 CIDP patients (69%), and in none of 13 control subjects. Nerve roots were enlarged, most significantly in the extraforaminal region, in three CIDP patients, and in one patient with Charcot-Marie-Tooth type 1A. MRI findings did not correlate with disease activity and severity, nor with any clinical or laboratory features in patients with CIDP.”

Please note the last sentence. “MRI findings did not correlate…”

You seem to have reported having at least one “second” opinion. Best get any further opinions from experts.

good luck