http://www.ANworld.com/surgery

Acoustic neuroma surgical options

Acoustic neuroma treatment options in general

The options open to AN patients are basically:

  • surgery,
  • radiation,
  • watch & wait (no treatment).

Before deciding on the type of treatment you want, ensure that you know all your options.  We recommend that you start with the treatment options page. This page is for patients who are contemplating surgery. Other pages explore radiation treatments and wait & watch options.  You are strongly advised to read them all before making any decision.

Reasons to choose microsurgery rather than radiation

  1. Desire to get the tumor "out of your head"
  2. Fear of unknown long-term effects of radiation, such as induced malignancy
  3. Size and/or position of the tumor makes radiation unadvisable (because swelling can occur after radiation treatment)
  4. The tumor has a cystic component (see comments below)
  5. Prior radiation treatment in the same area
  6. The importance of peer review. Many surgeons have published their results in peer reviewed journals. By contrast few radiation treatment centers have done so. Only one Gamma Knife center (University of Pittsburgh) and no FSR centers, to our knowledge, have so far published in peer reviewed journals.

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS ABOUT SURGICAL TREATMENTS

Key in the decision making process is determining the best type of surgery for an individual situation. Ultimately the question is, "What should I do?" and "How do I decide what to do?" Oftentimes, it ends up that the surgery decision is limited by circumstances. It is our hope that this page will help assist you in forming the right decision in coordination with the medical advice obtained through consultation.

Surgery is the oldest form of treatment for acoustic neuroma tumors. This page will detail a brief description of each surgical approach and link to some common websites for further information. Depending on the patient's tumor size and location, there are four goals in surgery: patient safety, total/partial tumor removal, facial nerve preservation and hearing preservation. It is important to understand the physician's priority order and match it with the individual patient's priorities.

AN surgery requires exceptional care and precision and it is recommended to choose a surgeon with experience of at least 100 surgeries using the same technique, on a regular basis, recently, and with good outcome statistics. Choosing the correct medical professional and facility is critical in obtaining the best outcome. It may require travel outside of your immediate local area. A study conducted by Wiet et al, concluded that tumor size and the surgeon's experience are the most significant factors influencing the facial nerve status and hearing outcome after acoustic neuroma removal.

When selecting a physician, request statistics relative to his/her own patient outcomes rather than general industry standards. Request the number of operations performed using the type of surgery you are considering. For example, if the surgeon indicates that he/she has performed 500 surgeries, request a breakdown by surgery type. It may be that the majority of operating experience is with translab, which may not be the right choice if you are considering middle fossa.

The 3 different surgical approaches have different goals. They are discussed in detail below, but basically Translabyrinthine surgery, which is the oldest approach, sacrifices hearing in the AN ear, while making it easier to avoid damage to the facial nerve. Advances in technology and surgical tools make both facial nerve preservation and hearing preservation a reasonable expectation in some patients undergoing the Retrosigmoid approach, (also known as Suboccipital), and the Middle Fossa approach. Mainly this includes the ability to monitor the facial and hearing nerves during the surgery and the use of sophisticated surgical tools. When damage to the facial nerve is feared, a technique called "debulking" is increasingly considered. This is a partial removal of the tumor that may be followed up with radiation treatment in case of regrowth.

Because surgery has been used for a long time, there is much peer reviewed data to support prognostic factors for the various post surgical outcomes. It is very important to use recent data in the journals and your physician's data when reviewing the probable outcomes. Remember however that each tumor is individual and some attributes cannot be determined ahead of time.

Surgery in expert hands lasts approximately 4-6 hours. Surgical teams usually include at least two surgeons: an ENT and a neurosurgeon. Typically, the ENT opens the patient and the Neurosurgeon removes the tumor.

3 basic surgical options:

  • Translabyrinthine

    The oldest surgical approach is translabryinthine. This procedure provides the best line of sight of the facial nerve and consequently offers the highest success rate of facial nerve preservation for a patient. The downside is that this procedure sacrifices an individual's hearing. It should only be selected when a person has severe hearing loss or the tumor is too large for hearing preservation surgery. Translab is the preferred surgical choice by most doctors when the hearing level is no longer useable. It is also a good choice when a tumor is above 20 mm as, statistically, facial nerve damage increases with large tumors.

    The entry is behind the ear in which the mastoid bone and some bone in the inner ear is removed. An excellent video illustrating this procedure very clearly is available (in French).

  • Middle fossa

    This approach will be used to attempt hearing preservation. Statistics show that the better the hearing one has ahead of the operation the better the chances of good hearing preservation. The location of the tumor on the superior nerve vs. the inferior nerve is better. The HEI website states that "In patients with small tumors who have been operated by the middle fossa approach since 1992., good hearing has been preserved in roughly two thirds of those patients. Any measurable level of hearing was preserved in 80%." It has higher hearing preservation rates for tumors under 2 cm than retrosigmoid. From the HEI website, it states that: "95% of 380 patients undergoing MF maintained excellent facial nerve function. Only five percent suffered minor weakness of facial nerve function."

    The incision is made in front of the ear by creating a bone flap. There is an unobstructed view of the entire IAC with this surgical approach. This allows complete tumor removal. The middle fossa approach is performed by lifting of the temporal lobe of the brain. This approach is not recommended for patients above 60. At House Ear Institute, in a review of 500 cases with several years of follow-up, they identified only one case of residual tumor (0.2%).

  • Retrosigmoid (suboccipital)

    This approach is used to attempt hearing preservation. Success rates vary from 30-65% in CPA tumors smaller than 1.5 cm with good hearing and limited involvement of the IAC. However a tumor extending to the fundus is a contraindication to the RS approach for hearing preservation. The tumor removal is accomplished with mirrors.

    Also reported is a "10% incidence of severe postoperative headaches" with this approach (Sliverstien et al, 1991) cited in Brackmann's paper.

Other situations that involve micro-surgery

Short term and long term outcomes

Typically a patient will remain in the hospital for under a week. After discharge, a typical convalesence time is 5 to 6 weeks. In most cases normal activity can then resume.

Outcomes for AN surgery, both short- and long-term, depend critically on the experience of the surgical team, the size and position of the tumor, the state of health of the patient. They span the whole gamut from nothing (no harm done) to severe incapacity and even death.

Typical follow up after surgery is one week afterwards, to remove the staples. Follow up MRIs are typically requested at 1 year, 2 years, 5 years and 10 years to check for regrowths.

To get an idea of the statistical chances of morbidity (harm) and mortality after AN surgery, the best is to read detailed medical reports such as: Management of 1000 Acoustic Neuromas: Surgical Management and Results with an Emphasis on Complications and How to Avoid Them by Madjid Samii, M.D., Cordula Matthies, M.D. Dr Samii is a world renowned AN surgeon who operates in Germany. On the one hand, he is among the best AN surgeons in the world, and so his results are expected to be better than less experienced surgeons. On the other hand, this report was written in 1997 and covers operations between 1978 and 1993, so an operation carried out today by an equally skilled surgeon would yield better results because of improved techniques. Also, well known surgeons take on more difficult cases.

Here is a list of various possible complications after AN surgery, in alphabetical order.

LINKS

  • www.anausa.org The Acoustic Neuroma Association (USA). There is a lot of useful information on this site and a guest book as well as a very active mailing list for patients.
  • www.ANSeattle.org The Seattle (WA) Acoustic Neuroma Group - SANG.
  • http://www.houseearclinic.com/acousticneuroma.htm House Ear Clinic is recognized as an institution having treated over 5,000 cases of AN. They provide free consultations with a doctor. Send your MRI and audiogram results to:
      Acoustic Neuroma Website Consultations
      2100 W. Third Street, 1st floor
      Los Angeles, CA 90057
    Audiovisual presentation by Rick Friedman MD, 2003
  • www.michiganear.com/library/A/acousticneuromastories.htmlThe Michigan Ear Institute
  • www.anarchive.org The AN Patient Archive site, full of information and patients' stories.
  • The Journal of Neurosurgery Often contains interesting articles on acoustic neuroma surgery.



No medical decision should be based solely on information provided here. See disclaimer

guide to the choice of treatment   ANworld home   list of questions for your doctors


1 Hydrocephalus is pressure on the brain caused by a problem with the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).  This can be due to blockage of the ventricles or to a thickening of the fluid.

2 Meningitis  is an infection of the fluid of a person's spinal cord and the fluid that surrounds the brain.  It can be fatal, especially in the young.  Go to http://www.meningitis.org/   or http://www.musa.org/ for more information.

3 Tinnitus is a constant buzzing or ringing in the ear, often experienced by AN patients (and many non-AN patients for various reasons).