Tag: Vestibular schwannomas

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Anatomic Variants in the Anterior Inferior Cerebellar Artery Encountered During Resection of Vestibular Schwannomas

Operative Neurosurgery 25:512–520, 2023

Vestibular schwannomas (VS) are often phenotypically benign lesions that may be technically challenging to resect because of involvement of neurovascular structures. The anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) is commonly identified near VS, with variable position in relation to the tumor; however, little published literature describes anatomic and pathologic variants of AICA observed during VS resection.

METHODS: A prospectively maintained cohort of surgically managed VS with available operative reports and clinical/ radiographic follow-up was queried and reviewed for noted aberrations.

RESULTS: We identified 66 cases with noted AICA abnormalities among 880 reviewer cases, including 20 loops extending into the internal auditory canal (2.3%), 18 arteries embedded in dura (2.0%), 15 AICA branches directly within VS (1.7%), 8 main trunk arteries coursing between cranial nerves 7 and 8 (0.9%), 3 arteries embedded in temporal bone (0.2%), 1 aneurysm (0.1%), and 1 artery bifurcating cranial nerve 6 (0.1%). The median age of AICA-variant patients was 55 years (range 19-74), and 29 were female (45%). Compared with the other AICA variants, tumors embedded with AICA tended to be larger lesions on maximal axial diameter (2.9 vs 1.6 cm; P = .006), they more commonly underwent less than total resection (73% vs 28%; P = .0001), and they had higher rates postoperative House-Brackmann scores >2 (47% vs 20%; P = .005). Two patients had radiographic and symptomatic postoperative cerebral ischemia or hemorrhage—1 from a bone-encased AICA and 1 from a dural embedded variant.

CONCLUSION: Anatomic variants of AICA occur in approximately 7% of VS operations. Most aberrations do not affect surgical or clinical outcomes, and the rate of major vascular injury was low. However, certain types variably add operative time and in the case of AICA encasement in the tumor, likely indicate a more aggressive tumor phenotype with lower rates of gross total resection and high incidences of facial nerve weakness.

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Assessment of costs in open surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery for vestibular schwannomas

J Neurosurg 131:561–568, 2019

Microsurgical resection and radiosurgery remain the most widely used interventions in the treatment of vestibular schwannomas. There is a growing demand for cost-effectiveness analyses to evaluate these two treatment modalities and delineate the factors that drive their total costs. Here, the authors evaluated specific cost drivers for mi- crosurgical and radiosurgical management of vestibular schwannoma by using the Value Driven Outcomes system avail- able at the University of Utah.

METHODS The authors retrospectively reviewed all cases involving microsurgical and radiosurgical treatment of ves- tibular schwannomas at their institution between November 2011 and September 2017. Patient and tumor characteristics, subcategory costs, and potential cost drivers were analyzed.

RESULTS The authors identified 163 vestibular schwannoma cases, including 116 managed microsurgically and 47 ad- dressed with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). There were significant differences between the two groups in age, tumor size, and preoperative Koos grade (p < 0.05), suggesting that indications for treatment were markedly different. Length of stay (LOS) and length of follow-up were also significantly different. Facility costs were the most significant contributor to both microsurgical and SRS groups (58.3% and 99.4%, respectively); however, physician professional fees were not spe- cifically analyzed. As expected, microsurgical treatment resulted in an average 4-fold greater overall cost of treatment than for SRS cases (p < 0.05), and there was a greater variation in costs for open cases as well. Costs remained stable over time for both open resection and SRS. Multivariable analysis showed that LOS (b = 0.7, p = 0.0001), discharge dis- position (b = 0.2, p = 0.004), nonserviceable hearing (b = 0.1, p = 0.02), and complications (b = 0.2, p = 0.005) affected cost for open surgery, whereas no specifically examined factor could be identified as driving costs for SRS.

CONCLUSIONS This analysis identified the fact that facility utilization constitutes the majority of total costs for both microsurgery and SRS treatment modalities of vestibular schwannomas. LOS, discharge disposition, nonserviceable hearing, and complications contributed significantly to the total costs for the microsurgical group, whereas none of the factors could be identified as driving total costs for the SRS group. This information may be used to establish policies and protocols to reduce facility costs, with the goal of decreasing the total costs without jeopardizing patient care.

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Preservation of hearing following awake surgery via the retrosigmoid approach for vestibular schwannomas in eight consecutive patients

Acta Neurochir (2017) 159:1579–1585

Hearing preservation in patients with vestibular schwannomas remains difficult by microsurgery or radiosurgery.

Method: In this study, awake surgery via the retrosigmoid approach was performed for vestibular schwannomas (volume, 11.6 ± 11.2 ml; range, 1.3–26.4 ml) in eight consecutive patients with preoperative quartering of pure tone audiometry (PTA) of 53 ± 27 dB.

:Results After surgery, hearing was preserved in seven patients and improved in one patient. The postoperative quartering PTA was 51 ± 21 dB. Serviceable hearing (class A + B + C) using the American Association of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) classification was preserved in all patients. Preoperative useful hearing (AAO-HNS class A + B) was observed in three patients, and useful hearing was preserved in all three of these patients after surgery. In addition, useful facial nerve function (House-Blackmann Grade 1) was preserved in all patients.

:Conclusions These results suggest that awake surgery for vestibular schwannomas is associated with low patient morbidity, including with respect to hearing and facial nerve function.

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Functional outcome and postoperative complications after the microsurgical removal of large vestibular schwannomas via the retrosigmoid approach: a meta-analysis

vestibular-schwannoma

Neurosurg Rev (2014) 37:15–21

For large (≥30 mm) or giant (≥40 mm) vestibular schwannomas (VSs) for which microsurgical removal is the main treatment option, complete tumour resection and the preservation of acceptable facial nerve function can be safely and successfully achieved via the retrosigmoid approach.

We performed a meta-analysis to provide a reliable estimate of functional outcome and postoperative complications for patients treated surgically for large VSs. We conducted a comprehensive search in Pubmed, Embase and the Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) databases to identify publications that included only patients in whom the VSs were >3.0 cm in maximal diameter and microsurgically removed by a retrosigmoid approach. Pooled estimates of proportions with corresponding 95 % confidence intervals were calculated using the Freeman–Tukey double arcsine transformation. This meta-analysis revealed that the pooled proportion of gross total resections was 79.1 % (95 % CI, 64.2–90.8 %; I2=95.4 %). By combining microsurgical techniques with continuous electrophysiological monitoring, the anatomical preservation of the facial nerve at the end of surgery was achieved in 88.8 % (95 % CI, 83.6–93.2 %; I2=76.1 %) of the patients. The pooled proportion of good postoperative facial nerve function (House–Brackmann (HB) grades I–II) was 62.9 % (95 % CI, 50.0–74.9 %; I2=91.1 %). Cerebrospinal fluid leakage was reported in 7.8 % (95 % CI, 4.8–11.4 %; I2=49.8 %) of the patients. The mortality rate was 0.87 % (95 % CI, 0.22–1.78 %; I2=4.9 %).

Our meta-analysis revealed that for large VSs, very favourable results can be obtained using the retrosigmoid approach with minimal mortality, especially with respect to anatomical and functional facial nerve preservation.

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Molecular biology of familial and sporadic vestibular schwannomas: implications for novel therapeutics

J Neurosurg 114:359–366, 2011.DOI: 10.3171/2009.10.JNS091135

Vestibular schwannomas (VSs) are benign tumors arising from the sheath of cranial nerve VIII. The pathogenesis underlying most familial and sporadic VSs has been linked to a mutation in a single gene, the neurofibromin 2 (NF2) gene located on chromosome 22, band q11–13.1.

In this review, the authors summarized what is known about the epidemiology of NF2 mutations and patients with VSs. The authors also discuss the function of the NF2 gene product, merlin, and describe the known and hypothetical effects of genetic mutations that lead to merlin dysfunction on a broad variety of cellular and histological end points.

A better understanding of the molecular pathobiology of VSs may lead to novel therapeutics to augment current modalities of treatment while minimizing morbidity.

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