Prognosis After Removal of Epidermoid Tumor

One of Michael's biggest concerns has been about how he will "be" after the operation.  Originally, it seemed his "side effects" would depend on the timing of the tumor's removal... getting it out before it caused permanent damage.  And since the neurosurgeon would be poking around inside his brain, passing dangerously close to the auditory canal, margin for error was very slim.

However, with the less-invasive approach to removing the tumor, the surgeon will barely enter his brain.  We understand that when the tumor is gone, the nerves will expand into their normal space and Michael's symptoms will begin to disappear.

I haven't been able to easily locate specific expected results following the operation; I'm sure it's different for every case.  However, there are two general concerns with this type of procedure.  First is being able to remove the entire tumor.  Second is the possibility of recurrence.  This is old information, but following are some statistics from a 1998 study of 54 patients followed for a 13-year period:

• 57% of tumors were completely removed
• Higher total removal rate in patients where tumors confined to a primary location
• 30% with subtotal removal experienced symptoms again after 8.1 years
• 100% with total removal remained asymptomatic
• 95% recurrence-free survival rate for patients with total removal
• 65% recurrence-free survival rate for patients with subtotal removal

Source:  Epidermoid Facts

What can we conclude?  Well, there's virtually no chance of Michael not surviving the operation or coming out of it physically incapacitated.  Since we don't know how many of his symptoms are truly attributed to the tumor, we don't know how many will disappear or if they'll disappear completely.  And we don't know timing for anything.  The length of the surgery as well as recovery is expected to be much shorter than originally anticipated, but will depend on the patient.

Since Michael is mostly healthy except for the thing in his head, we are assuming the best.  There's really no reason to indicate we should assume anything else.  We may know more early next week when we meet his doctor in person.  I'll be sure to chronicle that here...