There have been quite a few younger patients that chose to do radiation. This option can be particularly attractive for young people who have demanding careers, young families etc, as long as some conditions are met, i.e. size of the tumor, proximity to the brain stem etc. The thought that radiation is only suitable for older patients is old school. Data for GK exist for at least since the 80s, and even older than that, but the protocols (i.e. higher radiation doses) where different back then. There are quite a few comprehensive published studies, mainly by Pittsburgh, which span many years - if you are interested I can try to dig them up.
That being said, I did have failed GK for a larger tumor, followed by surgery. I consulted with many experienced surgeons, and most of them concurred that in their experience removal of a radiated tumor is not necessarily more difficult. They have seen very sticky tumors that were not radiated, and vice-versa, so it is hard to get any hard evidence on this. Even in publications where it is claimed that removal after radiation is more difficult, if you read carefully, the results are not statistically significant. When I asked my neurosurgeon after my surgery he said that in some areas my tumor was easier than average to remove and in some areas harder. I ended up with no complications, no facial nerve damage and an excellent recovery.
All I want to say with all this is that you shouldn't be scared away by claims of surgery being necessarily more difficult if treatment fails (which is rare anyway), scares of cancer (not proven that the incidence is higher than the general population) etc. Research as much as you can, so that you can chose the treatment that is best for you. Try to get opinions from both neurosurgeons, and radiation oncologists, and if you find someone who does both, that's even better. Dr. Chang in Stanford offers free consultations on CK and he is also a neurosurgeon, you may want to send your scans there.
Marianna
