Does the distribution of Schwann cells correlate with the observed occurrence of acoustic neuromas?

Acoustic neuromas account for 75 to 80 percent of cerebellopontine angle tumors and 8 to 10 percent of all intracranial neoplasms. These tumors arise from the Schwann cell sheath that surrounds the peripheral portion of the facial, cochlear, superior, and inferior vestibular nerves. Theoretically, a schwannoma may arise from Schwann cells anywhere along these nerves from the glial-Schwann cell junction to the end organ. Clinically, however, they most frequently originate from the vestibular nerves, occasionally from the facial, and only rarely from the cochlear nerve. This investigation utilized light microscopy, immunochemistry, and digital optical morphologic analysis to determine the distribution of Schwann cells along the facial and vestibulocochlear nerves in an attempt to explain the observed distribution of tumors, and to evaluate currently accepted theories. No direct correlation between the distribution of Schwann cells and the observed distribution of schwannomas was found. Thus, this study did not confirm the currently held theories regarding schwannoma distribution in these nerves.