Diving after Brain Tumor Removal

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Messages
3
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Location
Indiana
# of dives
25 - 49
So I read a post on this site from someone inquiring about diving after malignant brain surgery and I was wondering if anyone knew how this might be different from a benign tumor. I had one removed a little over a month ago with no complications and am doing great. Our family is planning a trip next Spring and I have gotten all kinds of mixed messages on if its OK to dive, how long to wait after surgery, how deep you can/should dive, etc. Does anyone have some thoughts on this? I welcome suggestions. Obviously, I will review with my doctor, but he is ultra conservative and not a diver, so I am not sure what his take will be. I do not want to jeopardize my safety, but I apparently had the tumor for many, many years given its extremely slow growth rate and went diving many times with it with no problems whatsover. I just wonder what the effects of no longer having it might be on future diving plans.
 
If you have healed from the surgery without any complications, there is nothing about the surgery itself that contraindicates diving.

The biggest problem with brain tumors and brain surgery is seizures. If you never had seizures before your operation, and have had none since, and require no anti-seizure medications, your risk is probably not different from the general population.

Do you know what kind of benign brain tumor you had? If it was a meningioma, it's highly unlikely you would have any problems, unless you had them pre-op.
 
Thanks, this helps a lot. Yes, it was a meningioma. No history before or after of any seizures and no medication. The topic actually never came up at all. The meningioma was near my spinal cord, but not really causing any symptoms of any kind. Surgeon just felt it was probably better to remove now rather than to wait for any symptoms to develop. With upcoming changes in healthcare laws, did not want to risk being told it wasn't mandatory so it wasn't covered either. When asking Dr. about diving, I was told by his nurse that he usually recommends waiting a year. I asked why and she said "pressure issues". We are going to be diving in the Bahamas in the Spring and most of the locations we are looking at are Novice dives in nature and thus no more than 60 feet anyway. Two of my kids are certified, but the other two are going to be doing their Open water dives for completion of their certification. As such, wanting to be in relative proximity to them limits our diving depths anyway. I am obviously not stupid and if pressure seemed to bother me, I would limit depths. It is just hard to know truly what the correct answer is. The surgeon is not a diver and without truly understanding, I don't want to ignore his recommendation, but I am not sure if he is just not adequately informed enough on the topic such that he is over-the-top conservative.



Thanks again for your feedback!!
 
There are theoretical concerns about scar tissue not being well perfused, and having a higher risk of DCS than normal tissue. To my knowledge, there are no actual data to support this, and certainly there are a great many people diving after a variety of surgical procedures and injuries, who are not experiencing problems with DCS in the surgical sites.

There are no mechanical problems in the meninges or brain related to pressure; they are all fluid structures where pressure equalizes.

Depending on how the surgery was done, it is possible that maintaining an extended position of the neck might be difficult or painful for some time after the surgery, but I would think at most several months.

I am not a neurosurgeon, but I do think your surgeon is being overly conservative. However, since I am not familiar with the details of your particular operation, please do not take that as a reason to disregard your particular surgeon's advice!
 
So, you are asking random people you don't know who are not qualified to tell you whether or not you should dive after having brain surgery. This has to be the funniest thing I have seen all day. Call DAN, get a hyperbaric doctor who is qualified, get him your medical records and see if you can get an answer….or don't. Take the advice here, sure go for it, dive, what's the worst that can happen?
 
MalibuJerry, I am a physician and a diver, and former surgeon. You will also note that Duke Dive Medicine, who knows far more than I do about DCS and DCS treatment, also approved of my advice.

Yes, people should be very careful about contravening their own physician's orders on the basis of anything read on the internet. Nobody here can know the specific of a case (which I pointed out). But it is also true that few physicians know ANYTHING about decompression -- it is not taught in medical school or residency, unless your particular specialty involves it -- so the OP has a reasonable concern about whether her surgeon's recommendations are reasonable or overly conservative.
 
Furthermore the questions and feedback raised here will give the OP an idea of things to ask his doctor. Asking a question like he did here is a great way to get him thinking about things he might not have thought to ask his doctor to begin with.
 
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