[The widened "empty" internal auditory meatus. A new differential diagnosis of the small acousticus neurinoma].

Six patients with symptoms suggestive of acoustic neuromas showed a wided, contrastfilled internal auditory meatus during positive contrast meatography on tomographic cuts. These results suggest that widening of the internal auditory meatus may not always be due to a space-occupying lesion. The explanation for these findings is not known. No comparable findings have been published in the relevant literature. Surgical intervention, which is frequently harmful and carried out because of a misdiagnosed acoustic neuroma can only be avoided by carrying out cisternography with positive contrast materials and tomography in the Stenvers' and Schüller projection.