Tinnitus in acoustic neuroma patients undergoing hearing-preserved operation

A series of 85 patients who had undergone hearing-preserved operation (middle cranial fossa approach or extended middle cranial fossa approach type III) for a unilateral acoustic neuroma (AN) was analyzed about pre and postoperative tinnitus. They consisted of 37 successful hearing-preserved cases and 48 hearing-loss cases. Obvious differences between hearing-preserved cases and hearing-loss cases were not found about the level of improvement or worsening of their tinnitus. Subjective expressions of tinnitus nature among acoustic neuroma patients were various, so it was thought that a speculation about the prognosis of acoustic neuroma tinnitus would be difficult, but tinnitus in acoustic neuroma patients in both cases was mostly mild and it not so traumatic for their quality of life.