Facial nerve palsy due to cavernous angioma of the petrous bone. Case report

The facial nerve palsy due to extrinsic tumoral compression of the facial nerve at the geniculate ganglium is very rare. We present the case of a patient with a temporal bone cavernoma and symptoms of a torpid peripheral facial House-Brackmann grade IV nerve palsy with dry eye and loss of stapedial reflex. The routine computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging studies showed no abnormalities, but the same imaging techniques done after the clinical suspiction identified a less that 1cm lesion that was compatible with an osseous cavernous angioma. The lesion was approached and removed through a microsurgical middle fossa extradural approach with a good postoperative recovery (House-Brackmann grade II).