Tew, how and why does an acoustic neuroma develop?
Acoustic neuromas are tumors of the nerve sheath. These tumors can arise from the sheath of any nerve, but they are most common on the vestibular portion of the acoustic nerve. Correctly, they are called vestibular schwannomas, because they arise from the vestibular or balance component of the eighth cranial nerve. But historically they are known as acoustic tumors. Neuromas can, of course, arise from the facial nerve or any other peripheral or central nerve of the body. Commonly, acoustic neuromas arise at the area where the nerve leaves the petrous bone, near where the nerve connects to the arachnoid layer of the brain’s covering. There is a transition in the nerve sheath at this location that accounts for the common site of tumor origin. What causes these tumors? There are no known risk factors. Like all tumors, a mutation occurs that leads to the unchecked replication of the cells. The genetic cause of acoustic tumors can be inherited in a disease called neurofibromatosis, a geneti
