WOUND CLOSURE AFTER ACOUSTIC NEUROMA SURGERY

Cerebrospinal fluid leakage from the wound or middle ear cavity remain s a common cause of morbidity after acoustic neuroma surgery, regardle ss of the operative route employed. An incidence of around 15% is repo rted in most large series. The authors describe a method of wound clos ure which is applicable to both translabyrinthine and retrosigmoid tum our excision. Adoption of this technique in 188 consecutive patients h as reduced the incidence of this complication in our unit from 13% to 1.6%.