Hi Janet,
Do you know if they plan to redo the MRI and mapping, or just use the same plan for what will probably be surgery 2 weeks or longer past the date of the MRI used to build the mapping/plan?
Since I don't know enough to know if you're overeacting or not, I also recommend you check with Dana Farber.
My layman's understanding is that the less time between the mapping MRI/plan and the actual radiosurgery, the more accurate the radiosurgery is likely to be, since the brain can change, especially when there's a tumor potentially changing the brain. I think I had midline shifts at least once for example.
My first (and only) CyberKnife radiosurgery, the MRI/mapping plan was done 1 week prior to the radiosurgery, same timing as your husband's was going to be.
6 months later, my first (and only) Gamma Knife radiosurgery, at a different medical center, an MRI was done same day, in the morning, and I had the radiosurgery in the afternoon. They did the MRI with the metal Gamma Knife frame already installed on my skull (the frame must be non-problematic for the MRI machine.) But they also had MRIs from 2 weeks before, so I don't know if the morning day-of-radiosurgery MRI was used to do the whole plan, fine-tune a "draft" plan to account for any brain changes over the 2 weeks, or just check. I *suspect* it was used to at least fine-tune an existing "draft" plan, but I don't know for sure.
I hope Dana Farber can give you some useful guidance on how much the timeliness matters, including the timing betwen the MRI used ot build the radiosurgery mapping/plan and the actual radiosurgery itself.
I will also say I felt in better hands the second time around — a facility with a fairly widely respected radiation oncology department. I do think I felt better they were doing a same-day MRI, I just didn't inquire as to the details of how much of the plan was built, when, based on which MRI.
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