[Differential diagnoses of acute bilateral hearing loss in a patient with metastatic bronchial carcinoma].

The first symptom of an acoustic neuroma in about 50% of the patients is hearing loss, which occurs suddenly in about 5-10% of cases. Acute progressive hearing loss is associated with a broad spectrum of differential diagnoses. Cerebellar and hepatic metastases from a bronchial carcinoma were previously diagnosed in the case presented here, and the most probable causes of the progressive hearing loss, e.g. idiopathic sudden deafness, infection and tumor-associated factors, were considered and diagnostically analyzed. The discussion ultimately focused on the clinical and radiological signs of bilateral acoustic neuroma. The patient's history and clinical findings yielded no indication of neurofibromatosis (type 1/2). Nevertheless, the constellation of findings suggests that the bilateral hearing loss was caused by a bilateral acoustic neuroma.