After comparing the hearing results of hearing preservation surgery and of radiation therapy with those of 'wait and scan' management, it appears that, in vestibular schwannoma patients with a small tumour and normal speech discrimination, the main indication for active treatment should be established tumour growth.

In vestibular schwannoma patients, good high frequency hearing and good speech discrimination at diagnosis are useful tools in predicting good hearing after observation.

To determine whether translabyrinthine acoustic surgery may result in a drill-generated, bone-conducted sensorineural hearing impairment in the contralateral ear, the audiograms from 50 consecutive patients with acoustic neuromas undergoing the translabyrinthine approach were compared before and three months after surgery. No case of sensorineural hearing impairment could be demonstrated post-operatively.

No abstract

The palisade technique effectively prevented postoperative retraction of the eardrum. The postoperative hearing was good.