SUBOCCIPITAL SURGERY FOR ACOUSTIC NEUROMA

A retrospective study was performed on 106 consecutive patients with a n acoustic neuroma who underwent suboccipital surgery for the first ti me between 1980 and 1992. Complete follow-up data were available for a ll the patients, including regular imaging up to 1 January 1994. Incom plete removal of the tumours was chosen in preference to radical surge ry in a large proportion of the patients, to avoid the risk of postope rative morbidity. The recurrence rate in this series was 20%. Comparis on of the results of suboccipital surgery to those obtained using othe r surgical approaches, while taking the tumour size into consideration , showed that better results can be obtained after total removal of th e tumour without any additional risk to post-operative facial nerve fu nction. The long-term results of subtotal removal using the suboccipit al approach were disappointing. It is therefore necessary to review th e indications for non-radical surgery in patients with an acoustic neu roma.