Do I need brain surgery????

[katrientje]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

Hi ya all,


So there I am, fifth year medical student, participating in a fMRI taste-experiment to earn some pocket money.... What did I know they would find something abnormal in my brain??? Since last week Tuesday I've been researching the net and I've been camping at the medical library to find every bit of information there is about my cavernous angioma in the left thalamus (it measures about 1.5centimeters and it has bled a bit in the past).

Tomorrow I've got an emergency appointment with the head of neurosurgery at 8am. Since I don't have any symptoms at all (not yet except for a bit of madness), I hope he's going to suggest to redo the MRI every year or so for follow-up.

I don't know whether it's a good thing to be a medstudent right now or not... on the one hand I'm kind of relaxed about it, because I don't have any symptoms and all, and it's not even big or so, but on the other hand I can get so worried that they might be going to CUT IN MY BRAIN OHMYGOD!
But most of the time I'm just being sarcastic. Hah. STUPIDTHINGWHYDONTYOUJUSTDISAPPEAROUTOFMYHEAD

The university hospital where I'll be checked up tomorrow (and where I'm a medstudent) is one of the biggest in Western Europe, and still they only see ONE similar case each year!!! So I guess even here they do not have a lot of experience with this.
So what do you guys/ladies neurosurgeons think of it?

Suppose the doc tomorrow suggests to operate on it, what should I do? Should I ask for a second opinion somewhere else??? Where in Europe??? Or maybe in the US or Canada??

PLZ let me hear your opinions.

thx!

 

[nuclearrabbit77]

well, if they haven't seen many of them, that's not a good sign. outcome measurements show that facilities that handle alot of cases that are in question, have less complications than those that don't. you may consider doing some research on where you may get alternative care. it is your brain we are talking about.

i'm curious, maybe i should start enrolling in some of these imaging trials...free screening =D

 

[mcwmark]

I'm going to guess, since it doesn't seem to have bothered you too much in the past, that they won't do anything about it. Unfortunately, it's not in a very accessible location, and going into the thalamic area to excise the lesion would probably be out of the question.

Since radiosurgery is also out of the question, I'd just monitor and wait; the bleeding/re-bleeding risk isn't as great as other vascular malformations, so I think it would be prudent to just sit on it. Many people live their whole lives without even knowing that they have a cavernous angioma...

Hope everything goes well for you.

 

[Voxel]

Not to be considered medical advice...

In general operating on the thalamus (eloquent cortex) for asymptomatic disease for a generally benign condition would be a very bad idea.

Let us know what they say. I hope things go well for you.

 

[Idiopathic]

I know very little about this, being a second year med student, but I agree with what voxel has to say. It doesnt seem like a good idea.

 

[scooter31]

actually have seen this in a patient before at the hospital i work at. Patients largest lesion was an occipital one,and also had 2 other significant ones her frontal and parietal lobe. Surgery X3 and a radiosurgery for the occipital (even though this was not recommended and highly controversial, but really the last resort). otherwise, the RacOnc and surgeon have followed the patient closely with serial scans every 3 months for the past 8 years. A real tough call... I wish you all the best.

 

[katrientje]

Hello,

I just got back from the neurosurgeon, and luckily he said that they won't perform an operation or radiosurgery. The benefits of the surgery wouldn't outweigh the risks of it since i'm asymptomatic. hehe.

The doc also said that there was a risk of bleeding of 1%/year... and risk factors for bleeding are hypertension and smoking... pff I'll have to give up my favorite addiction.

Thanks to you all for your comments, and I'll let you know if something goes horribly wrong with me... If I still can use a computer by then. hah.

Katweeny


PS I hope you all become excellent neurosurgeons and that you guys find a nice and safe treatment for me, I'm willing to be the first patient you can try it on!
Do we have a deal? 😀 😀 😀

(I was just kidding okay... maybe I _do_ suffer from symptoms, is the anti-sarcasm region located in the posterior thalamus?)