Incidence of postoperative epilepsy after a transtentorial approach to acoustic nerve tumours

Abstract

Sixty-nine patients who had neurosurgical treatment for acoustic neuroma by one of two different techniques were studied with a view to determining the incidence of postoperative epilepsy. Forty-five patients who had larger tumours underwent a combined translabyrinthine and transtentorial neurosurgical approach. For the others with smaller neuromas a translabyrinthine method was used. Only the combined approach was associated with postoperative epilepsy, and it occurred in 22% of the patients. Epilepsy was associated with temporal lobe trauma during surgery.