House Ear Clinic

[Suzy]

I have only learned about my AN a few weeks ago and am very thankful for this forum and all the caring and sharing that is evident.   One thing I have read over and over is that the House Ear Clinic is the best.  However, I have only heard about microsurgeries they perform.  Does House ever recommend or do any radiosurgery or radiotherapy?  It's bad enough having a brain tumor but I have to say it's quite stressful having to make the right decision on treatment.  I sure wish all the doctors (ENT, radiologist, neurosurgerons, etc) would get in one room, and all agree on the best approach.  Seems like if you go to an ENT then surgery is the way to go.  If you go to a radioncologist, than GM or FSR is the way to go.  Is there a grid of some sort with all the pros/cons and stats of each type of treatment?

Suzy

[Captain Deb]

There is an article you can access in the treatment options thread entitled "Article: which is the best treatment". If you have a hard time finding it, I can email it to you--message me if you want to do this.
Most of the folks who go to House have large tumors and aren't candidates for radiosurgery or folks who can't stand the thought of the thing being there at all.
Capt Deb

[Battyp]

Suzy welcome to our little club..sorry you're having to join!  How big is your AN?  what sypmtoms are you having?
You'll get varied opinions on treatment options the best thing you can do is research your options which there are seveal sites..I've posted on article that outlayed the pros and cons to surgical approaches and vaguely mentioned raidosurgery options.

If I had it to do all over again and had options I'd of done ck first before surgery....

[Jeff]

....Most of the folks who go to House have large tumors and aren't candidates for radiosurgery or folks who can't stand the thought of the thing being there at all.
Capt Deb

I would like to add that there are others who go to House for the middle fossa approach to relatively small tumors, in an effort to preserve hearing.

Jeff...who wishes he was among the mf group

[Captain Deb]

....Most of the folks who go to House have large tumors and aren't candidates for radiosurgery or folks who can't stand the thought of the thing being there at all.
Capt Deb

I would like to add that there are others who go to House for the middle fossa approach to relatively small tumors, in an effort to preserve hearing.

Jeff...who wishes he was among the mf group

Yes, that was me too, but I lost mine. Even in the past three years, more and more are seeking radio surgery for small tumors,
Capt Deb

[vcschaub]

I had middle fossa surgery at House Ear for a small 6 mm tumor. I decided to go forward with the surgery after a 1mm growth in a 1 1/2 year period and a lowered speech discrimination threshold. My surgery went well, my hearing was preserved (same as before surgery), delayed facial weakness that disappeared after 8 weeks. My only remaining symptom is slight ear fullness that seems to be improving, although not all gone. My surgery was in November of 2005.

[Suzy]

Vschaub,

Can I ask why you didn't consider GK or FSR for a 6mm.  Did the doctors at House discuss that option with you.  My AN is only 8mm and I am considering FSR.  What made you decide surgery?

Suzy

[vcschaub]

Before choosing House, I visited Shands at the University of Florida and Johns Hopkins. Shands felt surgery was a better choice, but only after watching and waiting. For the first 12 months, nothing changed. Johns Hopkins felt I could go the fsr route but again watching and waiting. At the 18 months mark, my an had grown and I could tell that my hearing was changing. I had the "I can hear you just can't make out what you are saying syndrome". Since I am 54 and in good health and did not want my hearing to deteriorate any further, I chose surgery. I then chose House because of their vast experience and on the recommendation of my local ENT who had studied under them. I had an MRI at 5 months to see why my ear still felt so full. It showed that the an was completely gone and that the fluid build up was slowly disappating. It is now almost completely gone.

The bottom line was hearing preservation. I did not want to wait until it got worse and the odds were with me because of the smallness of my an.

[dowdog]

I am glad that you have had such a good outcome from surgery.  I have read that the outcomes you were hoping to get from surgery are also available with FSR.  In other words, the possibility of preserving hearing and having no facial paralysis are better with FSR than with traditional surgery.  At least that seems to be the jist of what I have been reading.

Chuck

[Captain Deb]

It is really dependent on the size and location of your AN,  skill of the surgeon/radiosurgeon and just plain LUCK.  Generalizations like that are just too broad to say when it comes to AN treatment.  You just have to do your research, consult which who you feel comfortable with and go with your gut instinct.
Captain Deb

[targa72e]

In looking at the research I looks like out comes from Radiation are pretty consistent with out much regard to tumor size (up to the point were radiation is not a option). With surgery there appears to be two factors, size of tumor and skill of surgeon. With small tumors (<10mm) and skilled surgeons (House) Radiation and Surgery have very similar statistic for hearing and facial nerve preservation.

john