I was recently diagnosed with a similar sized tumor, I'm 47yo. The ENT's I saw initially were eager to do surgery. I went to Duke and saw a neurosurgeon who works exclusively with skull based tumors, their removal, treatment, and research thereof. His position was that one such as mine SHOULD NOT BE REMOVED until there is a specific reason to do so.
I would ask yourself WHY you want to remove it, what do you hope to achive by removing it NOW, rather than say 6 months from now. What is so presssing about getting it done now, when you have no information showing that it is, or will, grow? In 6 months, you can get another MRI and see if it has grown. Likely, it will not have shown any growth in that time since these things grow slowly even when they do grow. Then you wait another 6 months and check it again. If,, after a few years, you have information showing that it has grown, then you might have reason to take action. It might take 10 years to show growth, or it might not grow at all. Who knows what improvements in the treatments of AN's might be available in 10 years?
Anyway, that is the approach I am taking. You have to do what is best for you. I just cringe when I see members who have a diagnoses with a relatively small AN and then jump right into potentially life altering treatment. My neurosurgeon says the skull base tumors like ours are the SINGLE MOST COMPLICATED brain surgeries that can be performed and he is among the best surgeons that do this kind of work.
