The neurinoma of the auditory nerve (acoustic neurinoma) is a benign tumor that develops from the cells of the vestibular portion of the auditory nerve. The auditory nerve consists of two parts: a branch snail, which, as the name implies, goes to the cochlea and provides the transmission of sound information to the brain, and the vestibular nerve, which transmits information about the equilibrium to the brain.

Causes of neurinoma of the auditory nerve (acoustic neurinoma) The cause of this tumor is unknown. Also, there are no known risk factors for the development of neurinoma. Sometimes the neurinoma of the auditory nerve is a sign of a disease such as neurofibromatosis, which is a genetic pathology. Usually with such a disease neurinoma is often bilateral.

Symptoms of neurinoma of the auditory nerve (acoustic neurinoma) The degree of symptom severity depends on the size of the tumor. There are three stages of neuronoma.

In the first stage - otolaryngological - the size of the tumor does not exceed the size of the cherry, otolaryngological symptoms are revealed in the form of clear focal signs: deafness on one ear and on the same side loss of vestibular excitability and taste in the front 23 tongues, easy paresis of the nerve VII.

In the second stage the neurinoma has the size of a walnut. All clinical signs are expressed. In connection with pressure on the brain stem, multiple spontaneous nystagmus is detected, static.

In the third stage, the dimensions of the neurinoma are already within the mandarin. Symptoms are caused by a sharp compression of the brain:

there is a rough tonic multiple spontaneous nystagmus, hydrocephalus causes mental disturbance, blindness may occur due to compression of the optic nerves. Patients at this stage are not operable.

Treatment of neurinoma of the auditory nerve (acoustic neurinoma) Observation (radiological and clinical monitoring) - in the absence of symptoms and tumor growth Microsurgical removal with suboccipital, translabirinal access through the median fossa Radiosurgery - at small sizes (up to 3. 5 cm) Fractionated radiotherapy - is also acceptable for large sizes of health. sumy. ua.