Treatment of vestibular schwannoma

Treatments for acoustic neuromas

There are several different treatment options for an acoustic neuroma, depending on the size and position of your tumour, how fast it's growing and your general health.

The main options are:

• Monitoring the tumour small tumours often just need to be monitored with regular MRI scans, and the treatments below are generally onlyrecommended if scans show it's getting bigger
• Brain surgery surgeryto removethe tumourthrough a cut inthe skullmay be carried out under general anaesthetic if it's large or getting bigger
• Stereotactic radiosurgery small tumours, or any pieces of a larger tumour that remain after surgery, may be treated with a precise beam of radiation tostopthem getting any bigger

All these options carry some risks. For example, surgery and radiosurgery can sometimes cause facial numbness or paralysis (an inability to move part of your face).

Speak to your specialist about the best option for you and what the benefits and risks are.

Outlook for acoustic neuromas

Large acoustic neuromas can be serious because they can sometimes causea life-threatening build-up of fluid in the brain (hydrocephalus) .

However, it's rare for them to reach this stage. Many grow very slowly or not at all,andthose thatgrow more quickly can be treated before they become too big.

Even with treatment,symptoms such as hearing loss and tinnitus can persist and affectyourability to work, communicate and/or drive. These problems may need additional treatment read more about treating hearing loss and treating tinnitus .

An acoustic neuroma canoccasionally return after treatment. This is thought to happento around 1 in every 20 people who have had surgical removal.

You will probably continue havingregular MRI scans after any treatment, to checkifthe tumour is growing againor coming back.