Intratemporal vascular malformations (angiomas): particular clinical features.

Vascular malformations (angiomas) represent 1% of all pathologies of the temporal bone, including those of the cerebellopontine angle (CPA). We report six new cases of angiomas and compare them to the 48 cases listed in the literature published since 1949. Angiomas develop more frequently in the internal auditory canal (IAC) and at the geniculate ganglion (GG). When present in the IAC, rapidly progressive hearing loss is found in 88% of the patients reported in the literature and in 100% of patients in our series; facial nerve dysfunction is found in 72% and 60% of cases, respectively. The average tumour size is less than 10 mm. Acoustic neuroma, the most frequent tumour of this area, causes a slowly progressive sensorineural hearing loss in 75% of cases and facial weakness in 0.8%, according to the literature. Only 10% of acoustic neuromas measure less than 10 mm. Angiomas differ from acoustic neuromas in their rapid onset of sensorineural deafness and much greater incidence of facial nerve dysfunction despite a smaller tumour size.