Long-term prognosis of preserved useful hearing after surgery in patients with vestibular schwannoma: a study of 91 cases.

BACKGROUND: In patients with a vestibular schwannoma, some studies have reported that useful hearing preserved initially after surgery deteriorates gradually in the long term. Studies with more patients are needed to clarify the maintenance rate of postoperative hearing function and to identify prognostic of hearing function. METHOD: Ninety-one patients (mean age, 39.5 years; mean tumor size, 18.9 mm) with preserved useful hearing immediately after surgery were retrospectively analyzed. The useful hearing was defined as the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) classes A and B. Hearing tests, including auditory brainstem responses (ABR) and distortion product otoacoustic emissions (DPOAE), were evaluated preoperatively, immediately after surgery, and at outpatient follow-up. RESULTS: At the final follow-up (mean, 63.0 months), the useful hearing was maintained in 79 patients (87%), and the hearing class remained unchanged during the follow-up period in 40 patients (44%). Significant predictors of useful hearing maintenance were AAO-HNS class A immediately after surgery, improvement of ABR, and the absence of postoperative DPOAE deterioration. Postoperative DPOAE deterioration correlated with hearing class deterioration. CONCLUSIONS: Despite hearing being preserved in vestibular schwannoma patients immediately after surgery, Thirteen percent lost their useful hearing during the long follow-up period, and hearing class worsened in 55% of the patients. This study, which analyzed one of the largest series of vestibular schwannoma patients, demonstrated that retrocochlear condition is a key factor for useful hearing maintenance. In patients with vestibular schwannoma who have preserved hearing function, regular postoperative monitoring of hearing function is as important as regular MRI.

Interaural Difference of Wave V Predicting Postoperative Hearing in Gardner-Robertson Class II Acoustic Neuroma Patients.

Patients with acoustic neuroma classified in Gardner and Robertson (GR) Class II should be considered to have useful hearing, and patients classified in Class III should be considered to have not-useful hearing. Therefore, it is important for acoustic neuroma surgery to distinguish between postoperative GR Class II and Class III patients by brainstem auditory evoked potentials (BAEPs). We evaluate which BAEP parameter is the best for predicting postoperative GR Class II or III in 36 preoperative GR Class II patients with unilateral acoustic neuroma. Delay in wave V latency, reduction ratio in wave V amplitude, and interaural difference of wave V (IT5) are evaluated by a receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve in this study. IT5 is the best distinguishing parameter between postoperative Class II and Class III. IT5 below 1.12 millisecond (msec) should be a good marker to preserve postoperative useful hearing. Thus, comparing the latency of wave V on both sides is important, and surgeons would be able to make more informed decisions during surgery by checking IT5 on BAEPs.