Trigeminal neuralgia due to an acoustic neuroma in the cerebellopontine angle

Abstract

This case report first reviews the intracranial tumors associated with symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Among patients with TN-like symptoms, 6 to 16% are variously reported to have intracranial tumors. The most common cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor to cause TN-like symptoms is a benign tumor called an acoustic neuroma. The reported clinical symptoms of the acoustic neuroma are hearing deficits (60 to 97%), tinnitus (50 to 66%), vestibular disturbances (46 to 59%), numbness or tingling in the face (33%), headache (19 to 29%), dizziness (23%), facial paresis (17%), and trigeminal nerve disturbances (hypesthesia, paresthesia, and neuralgia) (12 to 45%). Magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium enhancement or computed tomography with contrast media are each reported to have excellent abilities to detect intracranial tumors (92 to 93%). This article then reports a rare case of a young female patient who was mistakenly diagnosed and treated for a temporomandibular disorder but was subsequently found to have an acoustic neuroma located in the CPA.