The retrosigmoid approach to acoustic neurinomas: technical, strategic, and future concepts.

The retrosigmoid approach continues to be the most widely employed strategy for the surgical resection of acoustic neuromas. The results with respect to facial nerve function are uniformly reported to be quite high. The great emphasis currently is upon improving results with regard to the conservation of useful hearing. This paper focuses on the anatomical and strategic surgical factors that we currently consider to be important to maximizing our current results. The future aspects of this trend toward improved success in conserving hearing in these patients is also discussed.