Abstract
OBJECTIVE: We sought to determine long-term hearing preservation in vestibular schwannoma patients after undergoing middle fossa resection.
STUDY DESIGN, SETTING, AND OUTCOME MEASURES: We conducted a retrospective chart review of patients undergoing middle fossa resection from 1990 to 1995 at a tertiary care center. Pure-tone thresholds, before resection and at least 5 years after resection, and speech discrimination scores are reported.
RESULTS: Seventy percent of patients with immediate postoperative hearing maintained serviceable hearing at more than 5 years after surgery. Pure-tone average in the operative ear changed at the same rate as hearing in the unoperated ear during this follow-up period.
CONCLUSIONS: More than two thirds of patients who underwent middle fossa resection of a vestibular schwannoma with some hearing postoperatively maintain that hearing at greater than 5 years of follow-up. Surgery alone does not have a negative impact on long-term hearing preservation. (Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2003;129:660-5.)
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