Treatment for AVM in hippocampal area

My wife is in the hospital after having a bleed caused by an AVM.  The AVM is in the "eloquent" area of the brain, making treatment more risky in some ways.  I am told that the two methods available are open surgery and radiosurgery.  The neurosurgeon recommends radiosurgery more than open surgery because open surgery carries more risks of damaging the brain, especillay the critical functions near the AVM.

My question is whether anyone has experience with radiosurgery?  Other than the time it takes to close the vessel, and the subsequent chance of more bleeds, are there risks I should be thinking about?  We need to decide which treatment to use over the next few days.  Also, what are the chances that the AVM won't be successfully treated with radiosurgery and will result in the need for open surgery anyway?  I don't know the size of the AVM, but was told it was small.

Thanks,
Craig