VESTIBULAR NEURECTOMY AND MICROVASCULAR DECOMPRESSION OF THE COCHLEARNERVE IN MENIERES-DISEASE

Vestibular neurectomy (VN) results in a high success rate in the contr ol of vertigo in Meniere's disease, although the subsequent fate of au ditory function is fairly unpredictable. The present investigation rep orts the postoperative results obtained in a group of 30 subjects with a clinical diagnosis of Meniere's disease and vascular cross-compress ion of cranial nerve VIII. All subjects underwent VN using a retrosigm oid approach, and in half of them microvascular decompression (MVD) of the cochlear nerve with interposition of autogenous muscle was perfor med at the same time. All patients had complete relief from vertigo. H earing was significantly improved in the VN-MVD group (46.7% of subjec ts). In this group tinnitus and aural fullness also improved significa ntly, with values of 62.6% and 66.6%, respectively.