Perioperative morbidity of acoustic neuroma surgery

Objective: To review complications that occur during the course of acoustic neuroma surgery. Study Design: Database and retrospective case review. Setting: Tertiary referral center, private neurotologic practice. Patients: A series of 1,687 patients undergoing acoustic neuroma surgery be tween 1987 and 1997. The 822 male and 865 female patients ranged in age fro m 10 to 87 years (mean age at time of surgery, 50 yr; standard deviation, 1 4 yr). The most common surgical approach was trans labyrinthine (72.5%), fo llowed by middle fossa (25.7%). The tumors ranged in size from 3 to 7 cm in diameter (mean, 2.0 cm, SD, 1.1 cm). Main Outcome Measure: Frequency of occurrence of all surgical and medical c omplications. Results: The most common complications were cerebrospinal fluid leaks (9.4% ; 2.1% requiring reoperation) and meningitis (1.5%). Other surgical complic ations included cerebral edema, hydrocephalus, pneumocephalus, lower crania l nerve dysfunction, and wound infection. Medical complications in order of frequency included cystitis, sacral root syndrome, anemia, and pneumonia/b ronchitis. Complications were related to tumor size and diagnosis of neurof ibromatosis type 2. Conclusions: Perioperative complications will occur with acoustic neuroma: surgery, but the overall rate in this large series was low. The authors bel ieve that this supports an aggressive treatment approach for management of acoustic tumors. The findings of this study provide a basis for comparison with other treatment approaches and also are useful for preoperative patien t counseling.