Intraoperative BAER monitoring and hearing preservation in the treatment of acoustic neuromas.

We treated 20 cases of acoustic neuromas in the last 2 1/2 years using the suboccipital approach with intraoperative monitoring of eighth nerve function in an attempt to preserve hearing. Total tumor removal was accomplished in 18 cases. Three tumors were small (less than 2 cm in size); 3 tumors were moderate sized (2 to 3 cm) and 14 tumors were large (greater than 3 cm). In 15 cases, all BAER components were lost during surgery. These patients had no postoperative hearing. In five patients there was intraoperative preservation of some or all BAER components. These included the three patients with small tumors and two other patients with moderate sized tumors. One patient with a moderate size tumor had preservation of wave 1 only, and had no postoperative speech discrimination. One patient with a small tumor retained all 5 BAER components, but had no postoperative hearing. Three patients in our series retained functional hearing after surgery, including 3 of 5 patients with tumors 2 cm or smaller. Intraoperative BAER monitoring appears to be useful in predicting postoperative hearing. Tumor size seems to be the primary factor in preservation of hearing following acoustic neuroma surgery.