TEFLON GRANULOMA PRESENTING AS AN ENLARGING, GADOLINIUM ENHANCING, POSTERIOR-FOSSA MASS WITH PROGRESSIVE HEARING-LOSS FOLLOWING MICROVASCULAR DECOMPRESSION

Deleterious effects of Teflon strand placement during microvascular de compression (MVD) for hemifacial spasm are rare. In this report, a pat ient who had previously undergone suboccipital MVD for hemifacial spas m presented 3 years postoperatively with a progressive asymmetric sens orineural hearing loss and magnetic resonance imaging evidence of an e nlarging ipsilateral gadolinium enhancing 1-cm cerebellopontine angle lesion. At surgery a granuloma was found displacing the structures of the internal auditory canal. Histologically, evidence of a Teflon fibe r-induced giant cell granuloma was identified. This paper reviews the literature of Teflon-induced histopathology as it relates to posterior fossa MVD surgery, as well as its relation to this previously unrepor ted complication.