Hi Raydean,
This might be one of the ones you were thinking of re: AN as a Brain tumor
based on the friendly little debate on whether an AN is a brain tumor, I posed the question on the CPSG board to see if any of the doctors would respond.
Here is the answer from Dr. Spunberg
From my medical school training, we were always taught that the cranial nerves were in fact an extension of the brain, so that an acoustic neuroma would be a brain tumor, whether inside the skull or not. For example, when we look inside the eye during a fundoscopic exam to visualize the optic nerve head, to check for papilledema, we allways viewed that nerve as the one portion of the brain that you could actually see directly, without the need for a craniotomy.
Therefore, I would call an AN a brain tumor...a rose by any other name, would still be a rose.
Jerome J. Spunberg, M.D., FACR, FACRO
Cyberknife Center Of Palm Beach
jspunberg@radiationoncologyinstitute.com
(561) 799-2828