UCSF vs. Stanford for medical care?

[marthaj]

Hello,
I have been diagnosed 3f years ago with acoustic neuroma (tumor size 5mm; the tumor hasn't changed in size over three years). I saw Dr. Jackler at Stanford who says to wait and see...whereas I just saw Dr. Theosopolos at UCSF who recommends to do radiation (gammaknife) to reduce the tumor to prevent anymore hearing loss. Does anyone have any feedback on these two very different recommendations and also their experience with these doctors and hospitals? I have not (yet) seen Dr. Steven Chang.
It is concerning that the two doctors I've seen have such different opinions.
Btw, I am 45yo male in otherwise good health. My hearing has diminished about 25% in the left ear so far.

[Greece Lover]

I hope you will find some help here with these different doctors.  I think you will find that one of the frustrating things about AN is that for many of us there are several different treatment options.  All of them have benefits and possible drawbacks.  It is good to get as many opinions as you can (within reason).  My tumor was small (not as small as yours) and I opted for surgery because to me, that gave me the best possible longterm outcome, even thought I knew it entailed some risk.  I'm glad for the decision I made.  My hearing was saved, and other than patiently waiting for my balance to improve, things are already almost  back to normal 6 weeks later.  But, others have great experience with radiation.  Good luck in your deliberations!