I have been diagnosed with a dural AV fistula on the left side. My primary doctor sent me to UAB (Birmingham, AL) where they did a 3D CTA and a cerebrial angiogram. The dAVF is confirmed and the doctor there at first suggested surgery but eased off that a bit saying maybe Gamma Knife. I asked what would happen if I did nothing and he said my changes for a hemmorage was about 30%. I have no symptoms at all and would have never known about it but was being checked for some involuntary twitching which my wife had been noticing. I guess I didn't have a clue there was anything different going on with me but she did so I reluctantly went to the doctor. I guess its a good thing I did. I trust the doctor in Birmingham but all of this is so new to me that I want to explore all the options. I plan to get a second opinion from Emory (about 4 hours away) and Johns Hopkins (about 12 hours away). Should I be doing more than that? I have learned that there are other great places out there (Mayo, Duke, etc.) but not sure how many more opinions I should pursue.
Thanks for any suggestions and thanks for such a warm welcome (I signed up yesterday)