back surgery necessary?

[tomholl]

I have a schwannoma at L2 within the dura that is about the size of a quarter. I am not experiencing any pain at all from this tumor. The tumor was discovered from MRI results from a ruptured disk at L5-S1. Physical therapy seems to be helping a lot for the ruptured disk. The surgeon is going to remove the tumor via a laminectomy.

My questions are:

Is it really necessary to remove this tumor even though it is not
causing me any problems at the present? Is there any chance that it will remain the same size and not cause problems in the future? Is it necessary to perform a laminectomy to remove a tumor like this? Are there any less intrusive methods?

I asked the surgeon some of these questions and of course they say the tumor needs to come out, like it is no big deal. I am not looking forward to recovering from a surgery like this, especially when I am in good health for the most part.

I plan to get a second opinion from a another surgeon but I suspect they will say the same thing as the first since this is their business and to them it probably is no big deal.

Thank you for your time!

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-CS]

I'm not sure if the surgeon was planning to do disk surgery at the same time? if that was the case it might be reasonable to take it out

without seeing the scan I cannot tell if is causign enough of a problem to take it out on its own
It is very slow growing and may or may not cause symptoms (like pinching a nerve) in the future
Because it is inside the dura, to get to it, a lmainectomy would probably need to be done
Getting a second opinion from a neurosurgeon is a good idea - they should be able to provide an objective opinion
Good Luck

[tgig]

I had a schwannoma discovered by accident about 4 years ago.  It wasn't causing me any symptoms at all and was quite large.  Following the advice of my neurosurgeon, I had it removed.  Now I have nerve pain that I have to take Neurontin for daily.  The recovery from the surgery was very painful. The tumor was the size of a lemon and wrapped around two nerve roots.  He saved the nerve roots, but I was left with the pain.  If I had it to do over again, I'd have left it alone until it caused me problems.  Schwannomas will continue to grow, but they usually grow very slowly.  They figured I'd had mine for 7-8 years or more.  I pray you will be able to make an informed decision about surgery.  Good luck!