Intralabyrinthine schwannomas: symptoms and managements

OBJECTIVE: To describe the characteristic presentations, radiologic findings and managements of the intralabyrinthine schwannomas. METHOD: Retrospective review of patient records, their managements, and review of the literature. RESULT: Four patients with a variety of otologic symptoms including hearing loss, vertigo, and tinnitus were found to have a schwannomas involving the labyrinth. In all cases, the inner ear lesions were preoperatively identified on magnetic resonance imaging, and the surgical removals were performed in all patients without serviceable hearing. The patients experienced improvement in their vertigo and tinnitus after surgery. Two patients were implanted the Bone-Anchored Hearing Aid (BAHA) to reconstruct the pseudo-stereophonic hearing. CONCLUSION: Intralabyrinthine schwannomas are the rare tumours in the otology. The tumour can be removed by surgical approach, but we do not propose surgical excision for the patients with serviceable hearing. BAHA can give patients a post-operative monaural pseudo-stereophonic hearing.