Case series of vestibular schwannoma patients with no asymmetry in hearing.

OBJECTIVE

(1) Describe the presenting symptoms and tumor characteristics of patients who are diagnosed with a vestibular schwannoma (VS) with normal hearing or symmetric hearing loss, and (2) report the prospective growth and treatment of each tumor.

METHODS

This is a retrospective cohort study of acoustic neuroma patients who were found to have a VS and normal or symmetric hearing loss at a single tertiary care academic center from 1999 to 2012. Medical records were reviewed collecting the following information: patient demographics, symptoms, MRI characteristics, and treatment modality.

RESULTS

15/195 (7.7%) patients met criteria for the study. Dizziness was the most common presenting symptom occurring in 9 subjects (60%), followed by headache in 6 (40%), vision changes in 5 (33%), tinnitus in 5 (33%), and unilateral hearing loss in 1 (7%). The average tumor size was 1.07 cm (range 0.3-2.2 cm). Eight (53%) patients presented with intracanalicular tumors. Growth was observed in 6 subjects (40%) with average growth rate in those who exhibited mean growth of 1.8 mm per year. Treatment consisted of surgical removal in 4 cases (27%), gamma knife therapy in 1 (7%), and observation or loss to follow-up in 10 (66%).

CONCLUSIONS

The incidence of VS with normal hearing was 7.7% Patients with VSs who do not exhibit unilateral hearing loss present most commonly with dizziness. Most of our patients had small, intracanalicular tumors with the largest tumor measuring 2.2 cm in greatest dimension. Of those who were managed conservatively with repeat imaging and observation, most showed tumor growth.