Pathology of jugular foramen neurofibroma.

Tumors of jugular foramen may closely resemble glomus jugulare tumors clinically and radiographically. A tissue diagnosis is necessary to make a differentiation of these tumors. This conclusion is supported by the findings in a temporal bone from a patient who was diagnosed clinically as having a glomus jugulare tumor 57 years before her death at the age of 84 years. Compression of the 7th and 8th cranial nerves in the internal auditory canal and the 10th and 11th cranial nerves at the jugular foramen represents the mechanism of neural signs produced by a neurofibroma arising in the jugulare foramen. This case further demonstrates that conservative treatment of benign extradural tumors may be compatible with a long and useful life.