Exophytic pontine glioblastoma mimicking acoustic neuroma.

A 22-year-old male with unilateral facial, cochlear and glossopharyngeal cranial nerve dysfunction and ataxia that was slowly progressive over one year is described. Although clinically it was considered he probably had an acoustic neuroma, surgery revealed a pontine glioblastoma exophytic into the cerebellopontine angle and internal acoustic meatus. Clinicoradiological features that distinguish this extremely rare lesion of the hindbrain from acoustic neuroma are discussed.