Pre op MRI

[clere]

Recently had a phone conversation with one of my Dr's. from HEI; I asked about the Prue op MRI and was told they don't do one (the last one I had was in June).  I was expecting that they would be doing one to check things out BEFORE they start cutting and drilling, but I accepted what he said.  Today I read rm516's post about his pre op MRI not being able to be done one the day expected.  Now I am questioning this.....did most of you have an MRI right before surgery? 

Also I am struggling with whether or not to have the titanium mesh put in or to just go with the belly fat?  For some reason I have having a hard time with the idea of "hardware" in my head and would appreciate hearing other peoples choices and experiences.

[TexasSprinter]

clere--for my first AN surgery in Dec. 2012, they did not do an MRI shortly before surgery but used the MRI I had two months before (when AN was first discovered).  For my second AN surgery in Dec. 2013, they did an MRI 3 days before surgery when the last one was 6 months prior.  My first AN surgery was middle fossa and they used belly fat to fill the void but they did not need to use titanium mesh because they cut a rectangular piece of skull out (like a jigsaw puzzle piece) and put the skull-jigsaw-puzzle piece back it when done, fastening it with 3 small titanium plates (very small things).  My second AN surgery was translab, and the surgeons told me they would use belly fat to fill the void and titanium mesh on top to cover where the skull was drilled out; we never discussed whether the mesh was optional--it was just a given in our discussions.  Given the anatomy as I understand my operation, I don't see how they could have not used the mesh.  I have had some headaches and neck aches since surgery but very manageable with ibuprofen as needed at this point.  Getting better every day and I expect all those aches to disappear eventually.  Scott   

[rm516]

Clere,
My test (MRI) is useful for evolution purposes only and not a requirement. They have live MRI available during Surgery.
Dr. Sisti required it before Surgery for record purposes as he did not want to"get surprise" during surgery with any recent developments.

[Jim Scott]

Clere ~

I'm going to assume that every doctor and his/her team have slightly different protocols for AN surgery so I can only offer my experience with the caveat that it may not reflect what another surgical team does, pre-op.  I underwent an MRI a day before my (debulking) surgery.

My doctor opted for the titanium mesh, not belly fat because he said he believed there was better closure with the mesh.  I've never had a problem with it.  Again, this is one AN patient's experience but for what it's worth, I had no post-op complications and a rapid recovery. 

Jim

[leapyrtwins]

I never had a pre-op MRI (other than my diagnostic MRI) but my surgery was done fairly quickly after I was diagnosed.  MRI was in mid-April 2007, surgery was 5/31/07.

As for "hardware" - personally I have a lot and I don't notice it at all.  In addition to belly fat, I have titanium mesh, a titanium plate & titanium screws - plus I have a titanium rod from my BAHA surgery.  All this titanium is in the same area - my BAHA site is directly on top of my AN surgical site - and I don't notice it at all.

Only "issue" I've ever had was a screw (extremely tiny) from my AN surgery that poked through my skin after my BAHA site healed.  Removing it was simple - my doc used an extremely screwdriver; took about 5 minutes.

Titanium doesn't beep when you go through airport security, you can still have MRIs, and it doesn't give me any issues in cold weather (I'm in the Chicago area).  I'm basically oblivious to it.

Just my experience,

Jan

[v357139]

They did not do a pre op mri for me either.  And I had a great result.  I had translab with both belly fat and titanium mesh for closure, I think.  

[clere]

YOU GUYS ARE SOOOO GREAT!!  I DON'T KNOW WHERE I WOULD BE WITHOUT THIS SITE AND THE INFORMATION AND CONCERN FROM EVERYONE. 
THANK YOU

[kcarloy]

No preop MRI. Belly fat and titanium plate, no headaches or problems. Trust your Drs experience!

[Mary More]

Hi, I had my surgery done eleven weeks ago and yes I had an MRI done Thursday October 24 and my  surgery was Monday October 28. But I have heard that some doctors don't feel they need an Updated MRI done.
As for the titanium or belly fat, I got neither thankfully. My surgeons carefully removed small circular piece of my scull for surgical access and when the surgery was finished they carefully put it back and used my bone dust to form like a mortar to hold it in place, and the bone will furze as it heals leaving my scull nice and strong with no foreign matter. Dr Sirhan, my neurosurgeon said this procedure is more difficult but gives a much better result. I don't know how common this is, as I did research I kept coming across titanium, belly fat and a few that replaced the scull bone using screws. Maybe you can ask them their opinion on or if they do this procedure.
I really like the idea of my scull bone being replaced. So far so good.
Mary

[james e]

I did not have a pre-op MRI. My last one was in December and my surgery was in March.

[leapyrtwins]

My surgeons carefully removed small circular piece of my scull for surgical access and when the surgery was finished they carefully put it back and used my bone dust to form like a mortar to hold it in place, and the bone will furze as it heals leaving my scull nice and strong with no foreign matter.

Am very surprised that bone dust was used.  There's been a theory over the years - not proven as far as I know - that bone dust can lead to headaches post op.

Hope that isn't true.  Please keep us updated.

Best,

Jan