Did anyone have an AN deep in the boney canal?

[sandyinwisconsin]

I met with 2 surgeons 3 different times and no one mentioned that my AN is deep in the boney ear canal and could be under pressure. 

When I met with the radiation oncologist, he pointed it out.  I'm wondering if my 1 cm tumor is under so much pressure that with radiation, it will just swell more and push on the nerves.  That's why the radiation doctor wants to give me 27 treatments.  He said one blast with a gamma knife would do damage. 

Did anyone get radiated with a tumor deep in the canal? 
If you had surgery for a tumor in this location, please let me know too. 

It sounds like most people's tumors are near one of the exits or entrances to the canal.

Sandy

[arizonajack]

Keep in mind that I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV. 

Take a look at this picture:

http://www.google.com/imgres?biw=1035&bih=640&tbm=isch&tbnid=zGSKeFoUwl3fVM:&imgrefurl=http://www.drmkotb.com/EN/index.php%3Fpage%3Dstudents%26case%3D%26A%3D1%26B%3D1%26C%3D0&docid=bJ1dSkkgTUQ0sM&imgurl=http://www.drmkotb.com/myimages/Internal%252520auditory%252520canal.jpg&w=1001&h=551&ei=rgl0UoutJeKQyAGPkoDQCg&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:30,s:0,i:189&iact=rc&page=3&tbnh=166&tbnw=303&start=29&ndsp=16&tx=111&ty=84

See where the 4 nerves enter through the opening in the right side of the picture. If your tumor is situated within the opening then it's possible that swelling of the tumor could result in impingement of the adjacent nerves.

You might show that picture to your radiation oncologist and see if he can confirm that the tumor is in that opening.

If so, it's something to consider.

My own experience involves a cylindrical tumor that was 4mm x 4mm x 1.2cm at the time of GK and 6 months later it had only swelled to 4mm x 5mm x 1.3cm without any symptoms afterward.

I'm not sure how 27 lower dose fractionated treatments would avoid the swelling as (I think) the swelling is a factor of the death of the tumor as it experiences necrosis and not necessarily a factor of the radiation.

I could be wrong about that so it would be a good idea to ask that question, too.

PS: Just found the following post with reports of facial tics after Cyber Knife treatment (fractionated):

http://www.anausa.org/smf/index.php?topic=19374.0