Acoustic Neurinomas

Acoustic neuromas (an) are schwann cell-derived tumors that commonly arise from thevestibular portion of the eighth cranial nerve also known as vestibular schwannoma(vs)causes unilateral hearing loss, tinnitus, vertigo and unsteadiness. in many cases, the tumor sizemay remain unchanged for many years following diagnosis , which is typically made by mri.in the majority of cases the tumor is small, leaving the clinician and patient with the options ofeither serial scanning or active treatment by gamma knife radiosurgery (gkr) ormicroneurosurgery. despite the vast number of published treatment reports, comparativestudies are few. the predominant clinical endpoints of an treatment include tumor control,facial nerve function and hearing preservation. less focus has been put on symptom relief andhealth-related quality of life (qol). it is uncertain if treating a small tumor leaves the patientwith a better chance of obtaining relief from future hearing loss, vertigo or tinnitus than byobserving it without treatment. in this paper we review the literature for the natural course,the treatment alternatives and the results of an. finally , we present our experience with amanagement strategy applied for more than 30 years.