Management of vestibular schwannomas in young patients-comparison of clinical features and outcome with adult patients

Abstract

Objects: Vestibular schwannomas (VS) in young patients are rare. They are regarded to have different biological characteristics. Our objective is to analyze a series of such patients, with respect to their clinical presentation, treatment, and outcome and to compare the results to a matched series of adult patients.

Materials and methods: Retrospective analysis of 20 patients under 21 years of age. All patients underwent surgery via the retrosigmoid approach. The analysis included: age, gender, tumor size, clinical, and neurological pre- and postoperative status including cochlear and facial nerve function, and complications. Statistical comparison of the young patient's data with a series of 200 adult patients previously published by the authors.

Conclusions: The current study demonstrates that the outcome after surgical management in patients harboring VS does not show any significant difference between young and adult patients.