A review of acoustic tumors: 1979-1982.

This is a review of the English literature relative to acoustic tumors from 1979 through 1982. I have selected what I consider the most important articles. Many other significant papers are not discussed. The material is presented in ten categories: diagnosis, histopathology, surgical approaches, facial nerve preservation and repair, von Recklinghausen's disease and bilateral tumors, nonacoustic cerebellopontine angle tumors, instrumentation, basic research, complications of surgery, and miscellaneous topics. In each section the articles are briefly reviewed, and sometimes a personal point of view is presented.