[Unusual clinical presentations of vestibular schwannomas]

Abstract

The aim of this study is evaluate the unusual ways of initial presentation of the vestibular schwannomas. We performed a retrospective study of the patients who underwent resection of acoustic neuromas on our service, including for analysis only the cases which initial symptom was not the hearing loss. Tumor size, localization, clinical presentation, and age of the patients were considered. Nine patients present with atypical symptoms. The most common complain in this group were facial paresthesias (22,2 %). None of them complained about other otological symptoms. A significant group of patients did not present with the otological symptoms classically associated with vestibular schwannoma. Clinical knowledge of these kinds of symptoms may lead to earlier detection of these lesions.