Deciding about surgery

[ashok p]

My son aged 27 yrs has been diaognised with AN 2cms .
We have consulted Dr Friedman at Usc , Dr Yang at Ucla and Dr Schwartz at House..
While Dr Friedman straightaway suggested surgery, Dr Schwartz and Dr Yang suggested to go for second MRI( fairest MRI was done on 13 th dec2013) after three months from first.
DR SCHWARTZ suggested to wait and see what second MRI results say..
My son has except for partial hearing loss in one ear,no other problems.
We are confused and puzzled as to what should we do.
However we have waited and are going for second MRI and going to consult Stanford also.
Anyone has good suggestions or guidance as to what and how and with whom should we go for?
It's so confusing and difficult to decide.
Though with all respects all Drs were nice and helpful and all in their own way wonderful doctors.

[john1455]

I was diagnosed with a 2cm AN in 7/2013 and after extensive research online I basically eliminated all treatment options except for Cyberknife because quality of life was most important to me. But I am 65 years old and your son is young and that will make a difference in which route to go because there is not enough of a track record to determine how the radiation will affect your son down the road when he is older. For geezers like me that is not a problem. However, do go to Stanford for an opinion because i just complete Cyberknife treatment there with Drs Chang and Gibbs and Stanford is just amazing. One thing you should bear in mind is you should consult a physician who does both microsurgery and radiosurgery for an unbiased opinion because there is a saying that if all you have is a hammer, you see everything as a nail.

[v357139]

For me, getting the second MRI helped a lot.  It gave me the info that it was growing and needed to be addressed.  If it was not growing, then I might have done wait and watch - but I needed the second MRI to find out.  Schwartz is probably recommending that because your son does not have a lot of symptoms, so perhaps why operate IF its not growing.

I can tell you first hand Schwartz is truly excellent, as he (and Slattery) removed my 3.5cm with great results.  So he is one really great choice.  Friedman is also a great surgeon.  But I also agree that you might benefit from seeing Chang, as he is one of the top out there for Cyberknife, and that would give you the full spectrum to consider.  First, wait and watch or treatment, then if treatment, surgery or radiation.  Best of luck, and keep us posted.  You are seeing great doctors.

[Totalvolcom23]

Hi, I was 27 years old when I was diagnosed with my AN. Mine was 2.5 cm and I had only 20% hearing in my left ear. I chose surgery. I had my procedure on 3/5/14. I am already going Barack to work on 4/7/14. I didn't want to have to deal with the tumor in the feature. Surgery was the only true way to give me such high statistics (98%) that the tumor will be gone forever. I lost my hearing in my left ear as expected but the surgery went perfect. I would do the surgery again in a heartbeat. Good luck!