1.) Did it haemorrhage? 2,) How big was the brain avm and where was it located?
3.) Did you have a craniotomy (what year?)
4.) Did you have gamma knife (what year?
5.) Did you have another form of treatment - which?
6.) Have there been any notable side effects of the treatment and if so, what?
1. Yes 2. Small, but way back in my left temporal lobe. 3. Yin 2007 4. No I had Proton Beam Radiation in 2007 5. No 6. No side effects after I had the Radiation, butI did have a massive brain bleed 6 months after I had the radiation.
My AVM is unruptured. It was about 6 cm in the right parietal lobe. I know it is smaller than it was a year ago, but don't know the current size.
I had a crani in July 2011 to clip an aneurysm found during the angio for GK #1--and it turned out I had 2 annies, not 1--but not for the AVM.
I have had 3 Gamma Knife treatments--June 2011, December 2011, June 2012.
No other forms of treatment.
Side effects--I had patches of hair fall out about this time last year and again this summer; my migraines changed some last fall (don't know if that was due to crani or GK); I tired easily after GK and this summer had a NASTY migraine. I had migraines during the 3 days prior to GK and then for nearly 2 weeks afterwards. I'm not a fan of pain killers, and I ended up taking Vicodin for a week.
Even with having an MRI last September after the migraines changed and taking 3 days off for GK in December, I actually missed fewer days of teaching last school year than I have in years.
1) Yes (March 6, 2011) 2) No idea how big; between the "flaps" of parietal and right frontal lobe (not entirely sure, just a generalized idea combined with the few terms I remember being thrown at me)
3)Crani - May 2, 2011
4)No
5) 2 embos. First one was a success with closure of 15% of the vessels. Second embolization not successful at all.
6)Too many to list but here's the gist of side efects from the bleed to the crani: left-sided weakness, easily emotionally stressed, vertigo, lack of balance (even sitting down), rage, depression. Non-epileptic seizure condition. Migraines. No peripheral on the lower left side.
1.) bleed? no 2.) how big n where? 4 cm in the cerebellum next to the brain stem
3.) craniotomy? yes 2006
4.) gamma knife? no
5.) other treatment? no
6.) side effects of treatment? yup, double vision (corrected by prisms), dizziness, numbness, and minor facial palsy
1. Yes it hemorraged 2. Large and it was in the left temporal, parietal and frontal lobes 3. Yes had craniotomy in 2010 4. No gamma knife 5. total removal 6. right side hemiparasis (facial, rt arm,rt leg), center to right side blind spots in both eyes, total language loss, sound sensitive.
two year out, still effects of hemiparasis but better, blind spots still there, speech and language is better. Global aphasia and aproxia are present. We are in speech/lang, pt and ot three times a week. She is slowly getting better. Frustration is high but tolerable. Miracles everyday and he is a trooper.
Embolization one day prior to stabilize the bleed.
Notable side affects include: seizure disorder, visual field cut on left side, dizziness, significant short term memory loss, aphasia and occasional loss of vision upon awakening.
4 x 4 x 3 inches on Vein Of Galen with 4 x 3 x 4 inch aneurysm
No crainiotomy
No gamma knife
Had embolization. 2 sessions: 16 hrs arterial side, 18 hrs venous in 2002 at UCLA
Had stroke after 2nd surgery and got RSV , hydrocephaly from aneurysm, shunt placed 2003,
Headaches, can’t take loud noise like crowds, temperature intolerance, can’t deal with
Fluorescent lighting, cereberal ventricles don’t move, flip outs due to brain damage,
Missing most of connections between hemispheres of the brain, weight gain due to coils
Hitting weight control part of brain, Papilledema in the eyes, 45% loss of peripheral vision
Vision problems, and they all are subject to change daily if not hourly.
I forgot the tiredness, seizures and that he’s medically not allowed to go to school. Although his eyesight has improved to
The point where he is eligible to try for a driver’s license. And he has a bleeding disorder on top of everything else
1) Yes 2) 3cm right hand side of the frontal lobe
3) Yes 2011
4) No
5) No
6) Light headaches from time to time, the obvious scar i have under my hair and lumps on the scalp & skull as they try to grow back strong. I had some blurry vision for a few months after it and it was diagnosed as eye migraines due to the bleed.
I am answering for my son who at the time was 10 years old 1. NO
2. size of a golf ball on the front tempural lobe
3. Yes October 2011
4. No
5. Two embolizatons prior to craniotomy
6. severe headaches
1. Yes, at age 43, after suffering migraines since 8 yrs. old. 2. Nidus 2.5 cm with many "spider-like feeder vessels, located in the right fronto-tempero-
parietal- zygomatic area. "Feeding spiders were the size of surgeons hand.
3. Craniotomy in Feb. of 2000, 3 days after bleed detected.
4. Gamma-ray not an option since already had bled, probable misdiagnosed bleeds within 6 mos.
finally correctly diagnosed correctly with angiogram after life-flighted to UPMC
5. Follow up angiograms for 18 mos, and yearly MRI's, 2 blood pressure meds to prevent
hypertension.
6. Right abducens nerve palsy, no peripheral vision on right side. I can feel all the titanium
plates in my forehead and temples. Sometimes I feel so much pressure, I'm afraid my skull
is going to split open. In certain stores and at the shore, I seem to have propreception
issues. Overall, pretty darn lucky.
1 NO - but stroke was a major risk w/ the size of AVM 2 "Large" AVM - right parietal - deep in the brain 3 No - Embolization then Sterotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) 4 Had SRS which is like Gamma Knife in Jan 2010 5 See #3 6 1 year after SRS, I had swelling of the brain resulting in partial paralysis. Treated w/ steroids and eventually came off and I am almost fully recovered as of today. Good luck - hope this helped !