Meningioma in the internal auditory canal

A case is presented of an entirely intracanalicular meningioma in a 48-year -old woman that was excised via a conventional translabyrinthine approach t o the internal auditory canal (IAC). Pre-operative magnetic resonance imagi ng (MRI) suggested that the tumour was a vestibular schwannoma (VS). Histol ogical examination confirmed the intra-operative impression that the tumour was a meningioma. Although VS is by far the commonest intracanalicular tum our, the differential diagnosis includes meningioma. MRI is unable to disti nguish between these two entities when the tumour is located entirely in th e internal auditory canal.