Everyone Healthy Library
Acoustic Neuroma
Also Known As: Acoustic Schwannoma; Neurilemmoma; Vestibular Schwannoma
Condition / disease reference page from the Everyone Healthy database.
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Connected health information
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Condition overview
Attributes
Commonalityis rare
Incidenceis approximately 1 in 100,000 people
Linked signs and symptoms
8Each sign/symptom opens its own page and links back to related conditions.
Linked drugs / medications
0No linked drugs are listed yet.
Treatments, therapies and supportive options
4Grouped by treatment type. These are educational database links, not personal treatment recommendations. Evidence labels are shown only where stored in the EH database.
Surgery
1Medical therapy
2Linked diagnostic tests and investigations
5These are pulled from both EH diagnostic-test link tables, including the older large test-link table.
Biological markers/agents
0This visual map shows biological markers/agents reported as increased or decreased with this condition. These are educational relationships only; test results must be interpreted by a qualified clinician because ranges vary by lab, method, age, sex and clinical context.
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Introduction / full article
Acoustic Neuroma
Acoustic Neuroma
An acoustic neuroma is a benign tumour of the auditory (vestibulocochlear) nerve; the eighth of twelve cranial nerves. The presence of an acoustic neuroma is a rare occurrence, and they account for approximately 7 per cent of all brain tumours.
Cause
The exact causes of acoustic neuroma have yet to be identified. Some risk factors specific to acoustic neuroma have been identified, however, and include:
· Age – individuals between the ages of 50 to 60 are at greatest risk;
· Exposure of the head and neck area to low-dose radiation;
· Frequent use of mobile telephones; and
· Family history and/or incidence of Neurofibromatosis type II (NF-2).
NF-2 is a rare genetic disorder. It involves the inheritance of a faulty gene, causing acoustic neuromas to grow on the auditory nerves in both sides of the brain.
Symptoms and diagnosis
The primary symptom of an acoustic neuroma is the progressive loss of hearing. The onset of the impairment may be sudden, and the extent of the impairment may also fluctuate. Other common symptoms include:
· Sensation of ringing in the ears;
· Impaired sense of balance and consequently altered gait;
· Pressure in the ear;
· Headaches and dizziness; and
· Depressed consciousness.
Treatment
For smaller tumours, physicians may recommend conservative treatment, involving surveillance by annual MRI to track growth. It is rare for growth rate of acoustic tumours to accelerate; for this reason, annual observation is generally sufficient. In even rarer cases, acoustic neuromas have been observed to shrink.
Clinical treatments usually prescribed for acoustic neuroma include surgical removal of the tumour, and radiotherapy.