GK/Novalis/Trilogy

[elena vlasenko]

Dear all,

First of all thanks to all people who is writing their stories and words of encouragement to each other.

I am Elena living in Ukraine, AN was diagnosed in March 2011, at that time I visited some doctors in Kiev who make such surgeries, I mean conventional one. All of them propose to do surgery ASAP as I am a woman and rather young and it is quite clear that due to hormonal changes the tumor will grow. I also advised to radio surgeon who is doing radiation therapy on the equipment called Trilogy, it has been recently bought by our government, just two years ago and I am afraid the doctors still don’t have enough experience for doing such surgeries.

Meanwhile I have such options for radiation therapy.
Trilogy in Ukraine
GK and Novalis in Moscow
Novalis, Erfurt, Germany

May be this question was revealed already here, but I would appreciate if people having the treatment of AN could explain me some key differences between GK, Gyberknife, Trilogy and Novalis as I am completely confused.

Size of my AN:
2cm   /2,2cm/ 1,9cm - it was on 10.03.2011
2,1cm /2,8cm/ 2,2cm - diameter 2.2cm – 18.08.2011

Unfortunately it is growing. But what is strange in the summary of MR it is written that the size of tumor without any considerable changes. I did’t visit doctor, will do it next week, hope he will explain me what doest it mean.

Thanks to all in advance for information.

[AnnR]

I can't help you with all the questions but...my neurosurgeon said that the measurements are not always exact and it could be according to who is doing them for example, the radiologist.

  I also think that the same issue has been addressed on this forum.  I think that you  can put into the search area, "measurements" you will possibly locate other postings about this.

Good Luck...AnnR

[mk]

Elena welcome to the forum. There have been some others from Eastern Europe from time to time here and I think that they found a lot of useful information.

Often there are big discrepancies in the measurement depending on if the person reading the MRI includes the portion (which is like a "tail") going into the internal auditory canal (IAC) or reports only the dimensions of the spherical portion. In your case, it seems that the first set of measurements you report corresponds to the spherical portion (you will notice that the measurements are very close to each other). The second set however includes a dimension that is much larger than the others, 2.8 cm. This is probably the transverse direction (i.e. from side to side) and is the largest length, including the tail that goes into the IAC. The other two dimensions (2.1 and 2.2) correspond to the spherical portion. They are just a bit larger than the previous ones, but still within the margin of error of the MRI machine, that's why it is noted that there are "no considerable changes". Of course we are not doctors here, so you should confirm all this with your doctor when you see him next week.

Marianna

[LisaM]

In keeping with what others are saying about measurements... did you have your March MRI done by the same radiologist with the same machine, with the same technician as with your August MRI?  It could be a different reading as the other two posters mentioned. 

What are your symptoms? Don't let anyone rush you into treatment.  You need to be clear and comfortable with the treatment you choose.  Sorry I don't know anything about Trilogy or Novalis.  Others on this forum would be better equipped to talk about the difference between gamma knife and cyberknife.  I found the AN World site helpful as well:

http://anworld.com/

I was diagnosed in April and had an MRI in July fortunately with no change.  I'm older (50) so the hormone issue is hopefully going away.  I did go on an anti-inflammatory diet, no wheat, no dairy, no sugar (except fresh fruit) low salt, right after being diagnosed and have really stuck to it.  No caffeine either.  I'm also taking tumeric daily which is a natural anti-inflammatory. 

Hang in there and keep us posted.

[nftwoed]

Elena;

  As I see it, the two MRI readings are not that different given MRI has an inherrant error factor of + or - 1 to 2 mm.
  Re, radiation types, my feeling is the experience, protocol ( important as to total number of gys. given ), and expertise of the provider is more important.
  I guess in choosing, one researches, visits Drs, and follows their hearts as to what and whom they feel the greatest comfort and confidence in.
  Best wishes to you!