Would like a 2nd opinion!

My 15 year old son was suffering from ankle/leg pain off and on for 3 months-with the pain being worse at night.All tests came back negative-including bone scan/CT/Mri.A few weeks ago-he had severe back pain-which prompted an MRI of his back.They found a large what appears to be a neurofibroma on the L-4 L5 vertabrae.It measures 4.3 by 4.0 cm. they said surgery comes with risk of losing that nerve-and if it does not bother him-to have it checked periodically for growth.Is this wise? We are scheduled to have a biopsy done soon.Are most of these benign-or can they become cancerous?? He has not had any pain for a few weeks which i do not understand how or why it stopped??? Also-what should we expect from the biopsy? Is there risk-and how will he feel afterwards? Thank-you for any input you can give us.

[Dr Vinod]

Hello!

Biopsy will confirm the lump to be a benign or a malignant tumour.

The most common of the peripheral nerve tumors is the benign neurofibroma.

You would need to understand that the location of the tumour makes the surgery difficult and the choice of surgery will only be taken if there are any malignant cells found in the biopsy.

Take care!

[donna500]

Thank-you for your reply.Would you have any idea why the pain has all stopped now? And if this is found to be a benign tumor,could it become cancerous over time? Thank-you.