Restoring Hearing After Resection of Vestibular Schwannoma by Cochlear Nerve Preservation and Cochlear Implantation: Long-Term Follow-Up of Two Cases

Abstract

Hearing outcomes of two cases of growing sporadic vestibular schwannoma, resected via a translabyrinthine approach with simultaneous cochlear implantation are reported. After gross total resection and anatomical preservation of the facial and cochlear nerve, the integrity of the cochlear nerve—on an electrophysiological level—was evaluated using the intracochlear test electrode of the Auditory Nerve Test System. After confirming electrically-evoked auditory brainstem recordings, cochlear implantation and hearing rehabilitation were performed as per the single-sided deafness protocol. This report describes the audiological outcome with respect to speech understanding in quiet and noise, localization of sounds as well as phoneme discrimination up to one year after surgery.