Hello Everyone:
Thank you so very much for your assistance in advance. My girlfriend has a unilateral 1.4 CM AN tumor in her inner right ear close to the brain. I am writing on her behalf because she is an English student. It seems to be an AN, but small chance it is Facial Nerve tumor. Girlfriend has lost 40% of hearing in her right ear so far. She has pretty strong tinitus, she says it is like a rumbling sound, pretty constant. No facial nerve paralysis or facial symptoms of any sort. She had one MRI about nine months ago and a second one 30 days ago. The size is unchanged, but they noted her hearing fell by 20% in that time frame, from 80% down to 60% remaining. In the past two weeks, she said she might possibly have felt a small bit of occasional dizziness. She seems to balance fine and never has to grab the walls to balance. The doctors predict a 40 to 50% chance of losing all hearing in right ear after surgery. So they have about a 50 to 60% chance of saving her current hearing in the right ear. Left ear is normal. Conversely, they predict she will lose all hearing in right ear within one to four years if she does nothing. Three out of four neurosurgeons want to do a Middle Fossa approach. But they are reluctant on recommending doing surgery or watch-and-wait. They say they "could do surgery for the preservation of hearing" but leave it up to her. Based on the above, would you recommend surgery or watch and wait? Thank you again.
