Biopsy Vs Awake Crainiotomy

hello,

I am new to this site and am really appreciating the advice and support people are giving one another. i am looking for some guidance on making a very big decision. i was diagnosed (throuh mri's) with a tumor on my left frontal lobe. after getting several opinions, i am left to make the decision alone of waiting and watching, biospy, or awake crain. the awake surgery is because of the tumors location. it is believed to be either an oglio or astrocytoma. i know there are pros and cons to both. currently, my symptoms are all but gone, yet i know the tumor isnt very likely gone, on the 18th of march i had my second mri it was the same size. its pretty large and all cannot be removed, yet it appears to be a slower growing tumor. if anyone out there has had both procedures, i would love to hear from you. i'm concerned if i have the surgery i wont be as functional as i am right now, but if i dont i might be losing time to fight this thing.

 thank you for reading this.

I would get a biopsy first. An oligo would be the better of the two.  I was dx 98' w/ oligo 1. Ten years in May! Yeah!

I really hope you receive the best possible news. Keep the faith.

Chris 

Chris,

You said 10 years in May, have you ever had surgery? Chemo? Anything? Or is it stable? Sorry, new and strange world for me, I have a lot of questions.

My husband's surgeon, Dr. Linda Liau, does them at UCLA.  She was featured on 60 minutes or another show performing one on a world class pianist.  It was an option that they were considering for my husband because of the location of the tumor in the speech area.

 

here is her bio

http://neurosurg.ucla.edu/Faculty/Liau/Faculty_Liau.html

 Basically, what happened is we went for a consult, as another hospital said his tumor was inoperable.  They did MRI scans, Functional MRI scans, mapped the brain - there was a tumor board that meets weekly that unanimously agreed that he should have surgery.

The surgery went well and they got everythign that they could see.

There is a brain conference that is free at UCLA this weekend, where they go over options, treatments, and clinical trials.  I suggest if you want another opinion, to call them.

As for biopsy or surgery, I lean toward surgery to get it out  - but this is a decision between you and your team of doctors.

Good luck, and God Bless

Gayle C - wife of John C, GBM warrior since Sept 06 - still having great scans, thank the Lord.

team of doctors? why don't i have that? it sounds good. right now all of the decisions are on me; too much.

There is no space for anything in your skull except your brain. Any growth in the brain whether benign or not, it needs to come out. A craniotomy should be the least of your worries. Its the horrific GBM or Astrocytoma diagnosis which people should fear not the surgery. Our doctor told us that you come out pretty much the way you went in, Well, here is my story:

In May 2006 my father had a seizure and went to the hospital. MRI detected a 2 cm mass. We went to a local hospital where they sugested a biopsy and we went to the Unniversity of Pennsylvania where the doctor immediately sugested a craniatomy. Both doctors believed that we are dealing with an infection, because my father was a transplant patient, and those patients sometimes get infections in the brain.

I chose the biopsy because I had no clue that we are dealing with the worst malignant brain tumor that there is. After the biopsy when they told us what it is we went to the other hospital and had the craniotomy.

I do not know what an Oligo is but I would not even think about a biopsy if I would be you.Your best chance for long term survival is as much removal of the tumor as possible. It needs to come out. Try to go to a teaching hospital if you can, they usually have the better docs there. Good luck to you.

 

Joe

I am a 56y breast cancer patient but I had a benign brain tumor at 15, an acoustic neuroma the size of a thumb.Back in the mid 60's they didn't have all the fancy scans, they did something called axial tomography. It took 2 surgeries 8hr and 10hr just to get it out. I am deaf in my left ear, legally blind in my l eye, and I have what looks like a bad facial stroke. I went on to get 3 degrees, I have been a nurse for 30 years, and that craniotomy wasn't so bad.. Get on the internet and go to a teaching hospital. It is absolutely amazing what they can do. Be thankful you have all the marvels of modern medicine and get a team, Good luck to you.

I have had 2 crainiotomies, I'd do it again in a heartbeat. I suffered 2 gran mal seizures in 1 day, never having seized before... an emergency biopsoy of what turned out to be an Astrocytoma 2, had 6 weeks of radiation, lost a bit of funtion in my dominant right hand. Recovery was boring to say the least of it.   So I stay on seizure meds for several years. MRI scans every 4 months got old, because the scans were clean every time. 

 So back in April of 07 my neuro told me he was switching hospitals and hopes to see me in 6 months or to stay where I was and another neuro would take over.I got lazy about it, after all it HAD been 8 years of good news!  In Nov 07, I had the mother of all gran mals and wound up ER, admitted schedualed for surgery ASAP.  Thank God I had told my mom about my neuro changing hospitals!  I love this man but thought, "hey I've been good for essentially 8 years...I'll get around to it..."

 God got around to it for me, bless his heart.  :)  From a clean scan in April to an emergency scan in Nov. an anaplastic astrocytoma IV had grown! 

 I believe I'll have another crainiotmy before my time comes, they aren't so bad, realitivly painless since there aren't many nerve endings there.  I did lose my right hand again, and my walking is still a bit off balance at times but retraining is everyday life I guess. 

 Keep the Faith!

I will. I decided last night I was going to go ahead with the surgery, it seems like the right choice for me. Thanks for your input.

 

mel