Journal d'otologie et de rhinologie

Vestibular Schwannoma: Initial Clinical Symptoms and Hearing Outcome

Alexandra Gomes, Patrícia Gomes, Pedro Salvador, Catarina Lombo, Rita Moura and Rui Fonseca

Objectives: Vestibular Schwannoma is a benign schwann’s cell tumor, whose origin remains obscure. It presents a slow growing rate, often associated with subtle symptoms that may take many years to be noted. Unilateral hearing loss, usually progressive is the most common presenting complaint and its features doesn’t correlate with tumor size. Atypical presentation should be considered likewise sudden hearing loss, vertigo or tinnitus. Incidental findings correlated imaging exams are increasing last decades. Subjects and methods: We present a retrospective study of 38 patients, who were diagnosed vestibular schwannoma, between january 2010 and june 2018. We reported the initial symptoms at time of diagnosis as well as the hearing outcome correlated tumor size. Results: The mean age of our patients was 53 years old and women represented twice as much as men. Asymmetrical hearing loss was the main inaugural symptom in 39,4% followed by isolated tinnitus in 26,4% of the cases. The smaller tumors were more prevalent than greater ones. Regarding the correlation between hearing impairment and tumor dimension, we objectified statistical significance for their variance, but not in a linear proportion. Conclusion: Acoustic neuroma presenting symptoms are changing, although unilateral hearing loss still is the main complain. The audiometric pattern is unpredictable for what large-size tumors may not affect hearing acuity.