[A case of facial nerve neurinoma originated from cerebellopontine angle]

Abstract

A 77-year-old man who had been diagnosed as the right peripheral facial palsy ten years ago, slowly developed progressive hearing loss and gait disturbance. He died of pneumonia. The autopsy revealed a tumor (4.7 x 2.6 x 2.6 cm) arising from the facial nerve in the region of the right cerebellopontine (C-P) angle. The tumor was displacing the cochlear and vestibular nerve, but did not extend laterally into the internal auditory meatus. Histological diagnosis of this tumor was neurinoma. Facial nerve neurinomas are relatively rare and most of them appear at the vertical portion of the facial nerve. Facial nerve neurinoma originated from the C-P angle is less frequently reported. The most frequent symptom of this neurinoma is hearing loss. We emphasize that preoperative diagnosis of facial nerve neurinoma in the C-P angle is difficult from neurological symptoms, even with CT scanning.