Hearing Rehabilitation After Treatment of Sporadic Vestibular Schwannomas.

BACKGROUND

Hearing preservation in vestibular schwannoma resection is a much-discussed topic in these times of functional preservation. Irrespective of the mode of treatment of large tumors, this becomes possible only in a lucky few. The overall burden of such deaf patients is on a rising trend, and therefore, it is high time neurosurgeons look into this often-neglected area of hearing rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVES

In this review, the authors intend to provide a glimpse of available hearing rehabilitation modalities in the present era.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

: This review deals with both immediate and long-term hearing outcomes following both surgery and stereotactic radiosurgery for sporadic vestibular schwannoma and the need for hearing rehabilitation in these patients. Various databases, including PubMed, Medline/Medscape, Scopus, Cochrane, and Google Scholar were searched to find available literature on hearing rehabilitation after treatment of sporadic vestibular schwannoma. The searched MeSH terms were "Hearing", "Vestibular schwannoma", "Rehabilitation", and "Acoustic Neuroma", alone and in various combinations.

RESULTS

: The authors were surprised to find a paucity of literature. Even though neurosurgeons are at the forefront in managing vestibular schwannoma, they are not actively involved in hearing rehabilitation techniques possible for those who are rendered deaf following treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

: The authors strongly believe that this review will be a wake-up call for neurosurgeons on a relatively untouched topic.