opposition of swelling after treatment

[Pim]

Dear all,
I had a single dose CyberKnife treatment last week thursday. It was a fascinating experience to undergo a sort of science fiction virtual brain surgery and walk out of the clinique after 45 minutes without any symptoms.
After 2-3 days I now get serious loss of hearing due to swelling of the dead tumor that gives pressure to the nerves in the canal. This seems to be a inflammation reaction. Is this right and if so would a short cure (1 week of decreasing dose) of corticostereoidem (prednison) help to relieve the pressure and as such save the nerves?
Thanks for your reaction.
Pim

[MaryBKAriz]

Hi Pim,

Oh my gosh you are the only other person I know with one day CK! I too needed a short course of prednisone - which did help. I have just returned from the AN symposium and it was very interesting. Almost everyone with radiosurgery has swelling afterwards I guess.  It takes  a LONG time, months and months for the thing to actually die. Where did you have your CK? Do they do a lot of them? What size was yours? If you ever want to talk, feel free to PM me and we can get in touch to visit by phone. I also have my "great CyberKnife" thread here on the forum.

Take care,

Mary
 

[Pim]

Hi Mary,
I had my CK in Munich Germany. A perfect center with an outstandig service and professional approach. The reason for the single dose (verus fractionated) was my own wish for a more limited toxic. Most people forget that the total fractionated dose should be multiplied by 3.3 to be equivalent with single dose. 12Gy becomes in that way around 42Gy and that is much more than a single dose of 13 Gy which is usually at this time.
I know it takes 3-6 months for the tumor to die completely and from that moment on another 6 months to get rid of eventual remaining dizziness. However the good news is that we are on our way back to normal!
Thanks for your reply and I wish you good health.
Pim

[Tisha]

Pim,

It can take up to 2 years, not 6 months, for symptoms to recede.  Also, there is not guarantee that your dizziness will go away.  Dr. Chang, Stanford, says 1/3 get better, 2/3 remain the same and about 5% get worse.  My unbalance was my first symptom 2 years ago, but I thought it was something else.  It could get pretty bad at times.  After CK last January, it is MUCH better, but hasn't 100 % gone away.  But I don't have near the unbalance episodes that I uses to.

Also there are other steroids that are used more for brain tumor swelling than prednisone (decadron for example). 

Good luck.  Tisha

[sgerrard]

Yes, do the steroids if you can, they are often very effective at restoring hearing when swelling is the issue.

Hope it goes well!

Steve

[Pim]

Thanks for your replies. After some days I switched from prednisolon to a more patient friendly homoeopathic medicine for the swelling and that worked fine. I am feeling OK now.
regards,
Pim