Saw ENT drs and July 14th see Neuro

[ghenier27]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to post my update. I saw the ENT folks last week and was very well prepared for the appointment. I had 4 pages worth of questions. They were supposed to set up an apointment with Neuro. After waitting for 4 days, I called them myself and made the appointment for July 7th.  I also asked to speak to radalogist to get answers from him as well. While I am still leading towards surgery as my options. The one thing I haven't been able to get out of my thoughts is. When I asked the ENT surgerion how many AN surgeries he does per year? He stated that he does around 25 these days, he used to alot more than that. I cann't but wonder why? What has changed the number?
When I ask that question and so many more. I will let youall know what I found out. Thank you all for all of your help and support. Debi

[Jim Scott]

Debi ~

Thanks for the update.  I'm glad to learn you were well prepared when you saw the ENT.  I can only speculate - but the recent ANA patient survey http://www.anausa.org/pdf/patient_survey_fix.pdf showed that more people diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma are opting for irradiation now, instead of surgery.  I suspect this may be due to the availability of MRI units in most hospitals today (they were hard to find 15 years ago) and the subsequent detection of ANs when they're small enough to radiate.  I hope there is also a greater awareness of acoustic neuromas by doctors treating patients with hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness and the other AN 'markers' we all know too well.   Radiation treatment for ANs has increased almost 100% in the past 20 years, which might account for the ENT surgeon's drop in surgical procedures - or not.  You might ask him about this, next time.  It's certainly a reasonable question. 

Jim