I was recently diagnosed with a Right Parietal Lobe Arteriovenous Malformation measuring 1.8 x 1.9 x 2.7 cm.
My neurosurgeon is recommending surgical resection via craniotomy, and has explained that there is a 5 percent chance of complications.
Complications could be an infection from the surgery, or something much more debilitating which terrifies me.
My doctor has explained due to the rare nature of this condition, they see typically 4 AVMs per year for the past 20 years. I have done the math - 4 X 20 = 80 patients, and 5 percent of this number these means 4 of the 80 suffered some kind of complication...
I am unsure whether I should seek out a second opinion - I am certain that they are going to both confirm my condition and recommend the same treatment option, but that will put me into a tail spin on trying to determine who and where...
Who do I let cut into my brain? Where do I have the procedure performed?
Just asking, but is a second opinion worth it or does this only cause more stress and confusion?
Worth it. No question about that. Even better than two opinions? Three. It is natural to want to avoid stress and confusion, but to get your best outcome, getting several opinions is one of the best things you can do. Plenty of people here have changed their original treatment plan after getting additional opinions.
I recommend a second and even third opinion. You must be confident and comfortable with your treatment. I gained this confidence after gaining multiple opinions from leading neurosurgeons. Barrow Neurological Institute has a online second opinion program. Best wishes to you!
I agree with others. Multiple opinions. I didn’t know about the Barrow online second opinion. That sounds great
Also, as far as who to do the procedure? Practice makes perfect. Once you determine what you are going to do, go to the surgeon who has done the most. 4/year is not super low, but I bet you can find one who has done more
Absolutely a second and third opinion! This is about your brain. And it’s sort of precious isn’t it? I left the hospital and doctors completely and went to a kind of acupuncturist. But that’s because the doctors told me that it’s too risky for me to do any surgerys because of the big size of
my avm. Best luck to you! And a tip from me, don’t always trust the doctors…