Acoustic Neuroma :: Procedure Spares Hearing After Acoustic Neuroma

A procedure known as the “middle cranial fossa” approach can help preserve hearing when surgeons remove small acoustic neuromas — benign tumors that grow on the nerves that connect the brain to ear.

Acoustic neuromas can affect a person’s hearing and balance, say researchers at the University of Michigan Medical School, who reported their findings in the current issue of Otology & Neurotology.

They analyzed cases involving 73 acoustic neuroma patients who were operated on between 1999 and 2005 using the MCF approach, in which the surgeon approaches the tumor from above the ear. Of the patients who had useful hearing before surgery, about 75 percent retained useful levels of hearing after tumor removal.

“Hearing preservation rates have not always been high following the removal of acoustic neuromas. The important message with this research is that if you present to us with a small acoustic neuroma, we have a very good chance of preserving your hearing,” Dr. H. Alexander Arts, a professor of otolaryngology, said in a prepared statement.

There are several surgical techniques for removing acoustic neuromas. Only two, MCF and the subocciptial approach (which comes from behind the ear), allow for preservation of hearing.

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