Radiosurgery in Italy

[giovanni]

Hello to all,
I found out of my right side AN last february in Bologna (Italy)-the town where I live. It took up to now to make the decision of the treatment during which the ANA discussion forum was of great help and support (just reading the so many different stories and info). I will start next monday (june 19) FSR in Amsterdam, at the Free University Hospital. I think they have a Novalis Linac. It seems that here in Italy many (or all?) doctors suggest surgery even for <3CM AN. Mine was a 1.5 cm AN last february. I was not satisfied with doctors suggestions, and went on looking and searching for other update information. At the end I decided for FSR because I didnt want to go into surgery and the Amsterdam center seems to have a good expertise in FSR of AN.

I am a bit in tension for the upcoming treatment - not knowing what will happen and how things will be.
I also wondering whether there is anyone on this forum based in Europe or even in Italy. I also hope it is acceptable to partecipate in the forum from here.

ciao
giovanni

[marka]

Hi Giovanni,

I am in the UK and have just been diagnosed with a 19mm AN on the right hand side. I am looking at having the radiation therapry in Europe, but there are very few CK installations so I may end up going to the US.  Can you tell me more about your FSR treatment in Amsterdam? How many treatments will you have and over what period? How much radiation per treatment? Also how much experice does the hospital in amsterdam have with AN and what are their results?

Cheers,

marka

[Derek]

Hi Giovanni...

I was most interested in your post. I reside in England and was diagnosed in March 2002 and have been on 'wait and watch' since then. My recent MRI scan indicated the first indication of enlargement siince diagnosis and my right side AN is now 2.5 x 1.3cm.

Treatment will be necessary within 2 years and I have undertaken a tremendous amount of research. I am 62 years of age and not keen on microsurgery. I have a leaning towards Cyberknife (CK) staged treatment ( a form of FSR) and as there are no CK treatment facilities available in the UK I would have to consider Stanford (USA) or Germany, Holland or Italy where there are 4 centres to choose from!

Just wondered if you had given CK any thought particularly when it is readily available in Italy?

Best wishes

Derek

[giovanni]

Hi Marka and Derek
you can look at this article from the dutch team:

Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 2003 Aug 1;56(5):1390-6.
Single-fraction vs. fractionated linac-based stereotactic radiosurgery for vestibular schwannoma: a single-institution study.
Meijer OW, Vandertop WP, Baayen JC, Slotman BJ.

I am not aware whether there is a .pdf file in some net archive - maybe someone else can help. If you cannot read it let me know.

I will be there from thursday and the whole next week. When back I can better provide all details of my treatments. Now, I know that the radiotherapy will be fractionated in five days - from monday to friday, one week. They have a good experience with AN as judged from their publications.

I have not found in Italy any good center with a large experience in AN treatments: the ones I know are interested in other types of brain diseases. Here, there are many surgeons experts in AN.

ciao
giovanni