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My aunt was just diagnosed

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jeansear:
My aunt, who is 72 and has health problems was first diagnosed with a 5mm AN in 2001. She just came back from the doctor where he read her MRI and he said it is now 2CM. She is totally deaf in that ear.
The doctor said it needs to come out. She is afraid of surgery not only because of the complications...but due to her health (asthma, cancer survivor, heart condition and age). Her doctor said at 2cm it is too large for radiation. I saw the MRI and it is pressing against her brain..with fluid around it. He felt it would come out easily because of the fluid.
My questions are: Is it possbile to have radiation on a 2cm AN? Can it arrest its development? How long does she have before she must make a decision to do something? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated.

jtd71465:
Jeansear-

Are you in the NY area?  If so, try Dr. Golfinos at NYU (http://www.med.nyu.edu/people/J.Golfinos.html). 

Joe-

jeansear:
Hi Joe-
We are in the NYC area. Thank you for your suggestion. Did he operate on you or someone you know?

jtd71465:
He and Dr. Roland operated on me on January 10th.  I would see Golfinos first he does both micro-surgery and GammaKnife.  If you want to know more about my experience let me know and I can send you an email. 

If you have any questions you can send me an email at jdombrowski@comcast.net.

Joe-

Windsong:
Jennsear,

There are many of us here who have had radiation treatment whether GK or Ck or FSR we span quite an age group. My own An was 2.1 x 1.9 at time of treatment and also was on the brainstem. My FSR was five weeks so a total of 25 days of treatment. I saw three doctors and could have had the gK too. Because of my own heart situation and other factors, I did not choose open surgery. The neurologist who found the An was sending me for surgery but when I saw the neurotologist who does that surgery (along with the neurosurgeon of course), he recommended the  radiation so off i went to discuss that with those doctors. It's now more than a year later and so far my An is said to be stable. I'd choose it even now.

The FSR  can spare the nerves as the treatment is fractionated into lower doses as you probably already know from your reading.

I wonder what your aunt's doctor meant when he said there is fluid surrounding her An?

I have read of older people having surgery and being ok but really, in the end, one has to know all of the variables involved etc. I wonder, too, if your aunt has lived with this since 2001, if she had any mris in the interval between then and now.

The cut off point seems to be 3 cm for many. (with radiation)

Also there is a woman i know who has had an An for ages and i do believe hers is a bit more than 2cm yet she has continued the watch and wait for some time. As far as I know it has stayed there. I don't think Antoinette has posted here for some time now though. Maybe she still reads and will see your post.

It might be good to get an appt with a doctor who does radiation so as to see what they say.

All the best,
Windsong

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