ANA Discussion Forum
Treatment Options => Radiation / Radiosurgery => Topic started by: oceansorcas on March 04, 2009, 10:32:33 pm
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Wow, this is my first visit back to this board after quite a few years, and I'm a little surprised that there is still so much discussion of CK and GK along with neurosurgery. Perhaps my experience may be helpful to some considering their options. In 2000 I was diagnosed with a very small 5mmx5mm unilateral AN. I met with the late Dr. Jeffrey Williams at JHU who recommended FSR, 5 treatments at 5 Gy each for a total of 25 Gy. I then met with Dr. Gil Lederman who was then at SIUH (he is now at Cabrini in NYC). He recommended 4 treatments of 5 Gy for 20 Gy total. Because Dr. Lederman had much more experience with FSR for AN, I went with his treatment protocol. Never had a single side effect of any kind. Audiology testing shows that my hearing is only slightly worse than 9 years ago - I still have some hearing in that ear. Annual MRI scans have been unchanged now for about 7 years and show that the AN has shrunken. I think Dr. Lederman still requires a review of your films and medical records before setting up an appt. All I can say is that for me, FSR with Dr. Lederman was the solution.
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Have yet to look into FSR, I have talked with several well known doctors and they have mentioned it. Most are advising me to have surgery, mostly because of my age. I will look into it. Anyone wanting to chime in about FSR??? Thanks Greg
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Hi ocean and welcome back... tickled to hear you are doing so well.... :)
Many conversations in the past year or so re: Dr. Lederman and the work he does.... if you go to the forum homepage and do a "search" option on Dr. Lederman, you will see the threads about his work and research folks have done about him and FSR treatments.
Good to see you back and continued wellness wishes to you.
Phyl
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Ocean ~
Congratulations on your successful experience with FSR. I underwent 26 low-dose FSR 'treatments' with no ill effects and an equally satisfying outcome. Unfortunately, Dr. Lederman has been accused of hyping his success rate and become somewhat controversial, but apparently he does have success using FSR on acoustic neuroma patients. I'm pleased you were one of them and decided to share the good news with us. :)
Jim
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Greg:
My 4.5 cm AN was 'de-bulked' via retrosigmoid surgery (whittled down from 4.5 to about 2.3 cm.) Following a planned 90 day 'rest period', I underwent 26 FSR treatments. They were administered at the rate of approximately 25 minutes per day for a total of 26 days (week-ends off). I suffered no ill effects and the radiation seems to have done it's job of destroying the remaining tumor's DNA, effectively killing it. I have to mention that I was 63 at the time of my FSR treatments. This is a factor a younger man would have to consider as no really long-term data regarding the radiation absorbed during these FSR treatments is currently available. Obviously, I have nothing but positive things to say about the use of FSR in treating an acoustic neuroma.
Jim