I had my gamma knife treatment June 2012 and my doctor told me to expect the biggest change to happen between 12 and 18 months post gamma knife. at my 12 month appointment my doctor said that there was little to no change in my avm's size and was wondering how long everyone else went before there was a change in their avm.
When I went for my 6 month Mri, There was very little ( in my opinion, None) change. I had a seizure on New Year's eve, almost a full yr after Gamma Knife and there was a great deal of change shown on the MRI. My AVM ,I was told, Is actually healing faster than expected which cause blood flow to back up, which caused swelling in my brain, which caused the seizure. So instead of the 3 yr total healing time expected, Mine might actually be gone in another 6 months to a yr
I had my gamma knife radio surgery done in May of 2011. At the time I was told that it would take about 2 yrs to see real changes, and we would have to wait until the 3 year mark to do an angiogram as a final answer about the status of the hopefully obliterated AVM. I took MRI’s in May 2012 at the 1 yr mark, as well as May 2013 at the 2 yr mark. The drs saw some little change at 1 yr, and almost complete obliteration at 2 yrs. I was very anxious to do the angio at that point, rather than wait for the 3 yr mark, since the anxiety was getting to me as I just wanted to hear a definite answer of whether or not we were finished with this nightmare. After the team discussed my case, they decided that I could do the angio at the 2.5 year point, which came out December 2013. To make a long story short, I did the angio on December 17 2013, 2.5 yrs after gamma, and the team proudly announce that I am now AVM free!
(For my full story, pls visit my page…)
I only wish that everyone on this forum gets to hear those words very soon, that they are AVM free!
Did you suffer any side effects of the GKS. Congratulations being AVM FREE!!!
My son had gamma in Jan of 2013. We were told to expect it to take 2 years to see any real changes. At the one year mark there was significant shrinkage to the main part of the AVM and again at 18 month scan (about halved). There was no change to the outlying parts of the AVM or to the aneurysm at that stage.
Hi I was embolised 2012 and then had gamma knife in Nov 2013. Right frontal AVM (4cm). Just had an angio on Tues and all is looking good. So I guess 18 months is about right. It looks as though it's been obliterated but just waiting to hear from the consultant (which takes ages here in the uk). Keep your chin up and best wishes
Al
I'm having my 6-month MRI at the end of next month. My fear has been that it won't show any change in size at all. I need to see some reduction in size to feel like its working. Working slowly, but working. Common sense tells me that 6-mos. is not long enough to see any major changes, but a girl can hope.
Did you get any kind of warning before you had the seizure? Have you had additional seizures?
You give me hope for positive results! My 6-month MRI is scheduled for 10/29/15. I need to hear that there has been some reduction in size, no matter how small. I pray that next year's MRI results will be as good as yours. Congratulations to you for being AVM free! I can't wait to see what that feels like.