Effect of vestibular Schwannoma on contralateral hearing ability

Introduction The intracranial tumor vestibular-schwannoma (VS) is a benign tumor commonly arising from the schwannoma cells from the VIII`s cranial nerve. In 94% of the cases, it tends to be associated with sensory-neural hearing loss (SNHL), mostly on the ipsilateral site. Recent multiple studies have suggested that the outcome of the SNHL is rather associated with tumor derived secretions than with the tumor-size. Interestingly, few studies have also observed an impact of single, one-sided VS on the hearing ability of the contralateral side, which might indicate that the tumor-derived secretions operate not solely on the ipsilateral ear. We aimed to compare the contralateral hearing ability in pre-surgical as well as post-surgical VS`s cases and determine whether it shows an improvement after treatment.

Method Data of VS cases of the year 2017 to 2022 in the university clinic of ENT in Bielefeld, Germany, were collected. Furthermore, the pre-surgical and the first follow-up of post-surgical hearing measures in form of pure-tone hearing test were analyzed and compared.

Results 60 VS cases from the year 2017 to 2022 were evaluated. In multiple cases, the contralateral hearing was affected pre-surgically. Of these cases, up to now less than a fourth showed an improvement after the first follow-up of surgical treatment. Nevertheless, the main part showed no improvement, and only few displayed a deterioration.

Conclusion Our results suggests that a single, one-sided Vestibular schwannoma has an impact on the hearing ability of the contralateral side. Further studies are needed to understand the exact mechanism of the results.

 

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Publication History

Article published online:
19 April 2024