What is the chance of losing facial nerve function?
An occasional patient presents with facial nerve weakness as the first symptom of their acoustic neuroma. These patients tend to be those with larger tumors. The risk of losing facial nerve function as a consequence of surgical treatment is dependent upon the expertise of the neurosurgeon and the size of the tumor. Patients with small tumors have an excellent chance of having excellent facial nerve function after surgery. Patients with small tumors can expect a ninety-five (95%) chance of excellent nerve function, as judged by our recent review of patients with small tumors treated by our team with a middle fossa approach. Only five percent (5%) had what is considered good facial nerve function. The chances of losing facial nerve function with stereotactic radiosurgery is very low at the current doses of radiation utilized. Recent data from patients undergoing current radiation doses show no more than a 2% chance of facial nerve weakness after treatment. • What is the chance the tumor
