Bilateral Hearing Loss after Unilateral Removal of an Acoustic Neuroma by the Suboccipital Approach: Case Report

Abstract

Contralateral hearing loss is a very rare complication of acoustic neuroma surgery. A case of immediate postoperative contralateral hearing loss is reported. Possible causes and the pertinent literature are reviewed.

Contralateral hearing loss as an effect of venous congestion at the ipsilateral inferior colliculus after microvascular decompression: report of a case

“…3 5 8 Fortunately, Its incidence is very low. Barker and Jannetta reported one contralateral hearing loss in 1185 cases of microvascular decompression for trigeminal neuralgia 1.…”

Recurrent Contralateral Hearing Loss After 2 Craniotomies for Vestibular Schwannoma

“…Fortunately, most losses are transient. However, in a few reported cases, profound loss in an only hearing ear has been reported (2,4,7). In our review of the published literature, we were unable to find a report of recurrent contralateral hearing loss after craniotomies undertaken years apart.…”

“…Although half of the reported cases occurred after the translabyrinthine approach (1,3,5,6), there are also 5 reported cases from a retrosigmoid approach (6,7), 2 from a suboccipital approach (2,4), and one each from a middle fossa (3) and posterior fossa approach (8). Contralateral hearing loss has also been reported after posterior fossa approaches to other intracranial masses including epidermoids, meningiomas, and chordomas (8).…”

Contralateral Hearing Disturbance Following Posterior Fossa Surgery -Case Report-

“…3,9,10,14,21) The development of contralateral hearing disturbance, the tumor size, and outcome of hearing function all vary (Table 1). There is no …”

“…This severe complication is also known to occur in other posterior fossa surgery. [3][4][5]7,9,10,[12][13][14]17,18,20,21) We describe a rare case of contralateral hearing disturbance after acoustic neuroma surgery.…”