Introduction:
The Vestibular Schwannoma (VS) causes various symptoms due to its variable position
along the 8th cranial nerve. There exist 3 therapeutic options: wait-and-scan, radiation
and surgery via 3 possible approaches, which can lead to various complications. Our
aim is to categorize the data on the characteristics of the VS, the diagnostics, therapies
and complications in order to create an overview of the clinical picture and to find
correlations.
Material and methods:
A retrospective analysis was performed on 128 patients (p) with unilateral VS who
were treated at the University Hospital Freiburg during the last 10 years.
Results:
The most common symptom was hearing loss (85.7%, n = 108), but also tinnitus (75.2%,
n = 94) and vertigo (40.8%, n = 51) were often reported, as well as headaches, sudden
hearing loss, loss of sensitivity and others. The tumor was mainly intrameatal (41%,
n = 50) and its largest extension was on average (o.a.) 13.2 mm. 27 P (21.4%, n =
27) were controlled by wait-and-scan for o.a. 3.65 years and 9.5% (n = 12) were treated
by radiotherapy. Most p (90.5%, n = 114) were surgically treated – some secondary
after "wait-and-scan" or irradiation – via different approaches: 60.4% (n = 64) translabyrinthine,
30.2% (n = 32) suboccipital and 9.4% (n = 10) subtemporal. Postoperatively, complications
occurred in 81.7% (n = 89) of p, most frequently facial paresis (50.6%, n = 45). Other
complications were headache, cerebrospinal fluid fistula, tinnitus, surditas and dizziness.
Conclusion:
The most common symptom was hearing loss, which is in line with literature. Despite
many therapeutic options, primary or secondary surgery is most frequently used. Facial
paresis as the most common complication is also found in the literature.
