In an operation lasting approximately nine hours, surgeons managed to remove the benign tumor on the vestibular nerve, which had caused deafness in the patient; by using a special access and measuring the function on the auditory nerve during the operation, inserted a cochlear implant during the same operation restoring her hearing back. A vestibular schwannoma is a benign tumor of the myelin-forming cells of the vestibulocochlear nerve (8th cranial nerve). The tumor arises from the Schwann cells responsible for the myelin sheath that helps keep peripheral nerves insulated.
It is still not known what causes it. The primary symptoms of vestibular schwannoma are unexplained unilateral hearing loss and tinnitus, and vestibular (disequilibrium) symptoms. Treatment of the condition is by surgery or radiation and often results in substantial or complete hearing loss in the affected ear.…
