Hearing Outcomes in Conservatively Managed Vestibular Schwannoma Patients With Serviceable Hearing.

OBJECTIVE

To characterize the risk of progression to nonserviceable hearing in patients with sporadic vestibular schwannomas (VS) who elect initial observation.

STUDY

DESIGN

Retrospective case series.

SETTING

Two tertiary care centers.

PATIENTS: VS patients with serviceable hearing who underwent at least two audiograms and two MRI studies before intervention or loss to follow-up.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Serviceable hearing, defined as the pure tone average ≤ 50 dB HL and word recognition score ≥ 50%.

RESULTS

Four-hundred sixty-six patients (median age of 57 yr and median tumor diameter of 7.3 mm) had serviceable hearing at presentation and were followed for a median of 2.3 years (IQR 1.0 - 4.0). Kaplan-Meier estimated rates of maintaining serviceable hearing (95% CI; number still at risk) at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 10 years following diagnosis were 94% (91-96; 357), 77% (73-82; 172), 66% (60-73; 81), 56% (49-65; 31), and 44% (33-59; 10), respectively. Each 10-dB increase in pure-tone averages at diagnosis was associated with a 2-fold increased likelihood of developing nonserviceable hearing (hazard ratio 2.07; p < 0.001). Each 10% decrease in word recognition score was associated with a 1.5-fold increased likelihood of developing nonserviceable hearing (hazard ratio 1.48; p < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

Among patients with sporadic VS, good baseline word recognition score and low pure-tone average are jointly associated with maintenance of serviceable hearing. These data may be used to guide patient counseling and optimize management.