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This study delves into the absence of prognostic or predictive markers to guide rehabilitation in patients afflicted with vestibular schwannomas. The objective is to analyze the reweighting of subjective and instrumental indicators following surgery, at 7 days and 1 month postoperatively. This retrospective cohort encompasses 32 patients who underwent unilateral vestibular schwannoma surgery at the Marseille University Hospital between 2014 and 2019. Variations in 54 indicators and their adherence to available norms are calculated. After 1 month, one-third of patients do not regain the norm for all indicators. However, the rates of variation unveil specific responses linked to a preoperative error signal, stemming from years of tumor adaptation. This adaptation is reflected in a postoperative visual or proprioceptive preference for certain patients. Further studies are needed to clarify error signals according to lesion types. The approach based on variations in normative indicators appears relevant for post-surgical monitoring and physiotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to verify whether a previous gamma knife surgery (GKS) treatment could influence the oncological and functional outcome in large vestibular schwannoma (VS) surgery, we have compared group of patients operated on for large VS after failed GKS to a group of genuine VS that underwent the same functional nerve-sparing resection technique regimen in the same period. Single center retrospective cohort study of 23 consecutive GKS failure and 170 genuine VS patients operated on between April 2003 and March 2019. After resection, patients were allocated to a Wait-&-rescan or an upfront GKS policy. At last follow-up examination, the facial nerve function was good (House-Brackmann grades I or II) in 95% of the GKS failure and 84% of the genuine VS patients (p =.25). The median volume of tumor residue was.56 cc in the GKS failure group and.62 cc in the genuine VS group (p =.70). Tumor control was achieved in 91% and 83% of cases with a mean follow-up of 74 and 63 months in the GKS failure and the genuine VS populations, respectively. The 1-, 5-, and 7-year progression-free survival were 100%, 95%, and 85% respectively in the GKS failure group and 97%, 80%, and 81% in the genuine VS group (p =.27). Despite significant modifications of the microsurgical environment associated to salvage surgery after GKS failure, a functional nerve-sparing resection is an effective strategy to optimize the results on facial nerve function, with similar long-term tumor control to those observed in the genuine VS population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The unilateral vestibular syndrome results in postural, oculomotor, perceptive, and cognitive symptoms. This study was designed to investigate the role of vestibular signals in body orientation representation, which remains poorly considered in vestibular patients. Methods: The subjective straight ahead (SSA) was investigated using a method disentangling translation and rotation components of error. Participants were required to align a rod with their body midline in the horizontal plane. Patients with right vestibular neurotomy (RVN; n =8) or left vestibular neurotomy (LVN; n = 13) or vestibular schwannoma resection were compared with 12 healthy controls. Patients were tested the day before surgery and during the recovery period, 7 days and 2 months after the surgery. Results: Before and after unilateral vestibular neurotomy, i.e., in the chronic phases, patients showed a rightward translation bias of their SSA, without rotation bias, whatever the side of the vestibular loss. However, the data show that the lower the translation error before neurotomy, the greater its increase 2 months after a total unilateral vestibular loss, therefore leading to a rightward translation of similar amplitude in the two groups of patients. In the early phase after surgery, SSA moved toward the operated side both in translation and in rotation, as typically found for biases occurring after unilateral vestibular loss, such as the subjective visual vertical (SVV) bias. Discussion and Conclusion: This study gives the first description of the immediate consequences and of the recovery time course of body orientation representation after a complete unilateral vestibular loss. The overall evolution differed according to the side of the lesion with more extensive changes over time before and after left vestibular loss. It is noteworthy that representational disturbances of self-orientation were highly unusual in the chronic stage after vestibular loss and similar to those reported after hemispheric lesions causing spatial neglect, while classical ipsilesional biases were reported in the acute stage. This study strongly supports the notion that the vestibular system plays a major role in body representation processes and more broadly in spatial cognition. From a clinical point of view, SSA appeared to be a reliable indicator for the presence of a vestibular disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to verify whether neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) could influence the oncological and functional outcome in large vestibular schwannoma (VS) surgery, we compared a group of NF2 patients operated with a facial nerve-sparing technique to a group of sporadic VSs of similar volume that underwent the same treatment regimen in the same period. Single-center retrospective cohort study about 12 consecutive NF2 and 69 non-NF2 patients operated on for large VS between September 2006 and November 2016. After resection, patients were allocated to an upfront Gamma Knife surgery policy of the tumor residue. At last follow-up examination, the facial nerve function was good (House-Brackmann grades I or II) in 92% of the NF2 and 83% of the non-NF2 patients (p =.90). The median volume of tumor residue was.92 cc in the NF2 group and.54 cc in the non-NF2 group (p =.14). Tumor control was achieved in 83% and 81% of cases in the NF2 and the non-NF2 populations, respectively, with a mean follow-up of 73 months in both groups. The 1-, 5-, and 7-year progression-free survival were 92%, 83%, and 83% respectively in the NF2 group, and 99%, 83%, and 80% in the non-NF2 group (p =.96). Our analysis of 12 NF2 and 69 non-NF2 patients operated on by the same surgical team with the same treatment regimen did not show any functional or tumor control difference between those groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective --To investigate the efficiency of a new method of brainstem auditory-evoked potential (BAEP) monitoring during complete vestibular schwannoma (VS) resection with attempted hearing preservation. Material and Methods --Dedicated software providing near real-time recording was developed using a rejection strategy of artifacts based on spectral analysis. A small sample number (maximum 200) is required and results are obtained within 10 s. Fourteen consecutive patients with hearing class A operated on for VS, in an attempt to preserve hearing, participated in the investigation. Postoperatively, 7 patients (50%) had useful hearing (hearing class A, 4/14; hearing class B, 3/14) on the operated side. Seven patients (50%) were reduced to hearing class D. Results --Drilling of the internal auditory canal (IAC) and tumor removal at the lateral end of the IAC were identified as the two most critical steps for achieving hearing preservation. Intraoperative BAEP monitoring was sensitive in detecting auditory damage with useful feedback but its effectiveness in preventing irreversible hearing impairment was not demonstrated in this study. Conclusion --Combined BAEP and direct auditory nerve monitoring using the same equipment will be performed in the future in an attempt to enhance the chances of preventing irreversible hearing damage, and possibly to improve the hearing outcome significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The preservation of acceptable facial nerve (FN) function after surgery is the key concern for most patients with vestibular schwannomas (VS). To assess predictive factors of early postoperative and long-term FN function in patients harboring large VS operated with a FN-sparing technique. Single-center retrospective cohort study with 169 consecutive large VS operated on between January 2003 and May 2015. Clinical, radiologic, and intraoperative factors were assessed according to FN function. At last follow-up examination, among the 145 patients without preoperative FN palsy, FN function was good (House-Brackmann [HB] grades I or II) in 84% and moderate (HB grade III) in 15% of patients. Only 1 patient presented with poor HB grade IV function. Multivariate logistic regression model showed the mean preoperative VS extrameatal diameter as being an independent predictor of an unfavorable initial FN outcome (odds ratio [OR], 1.062; P = 0.038). Surgical anatomic preservation of the cochlear nerve was associated with better FN outcomes (OR, 0.237; P = 0.012). A history of previous surgery seemed to be related to long-term impaired FN function (OR, 71.405; P = 0.042), as well as early postoperative FN function (OR, 19.068; P = 0.000). No correlation was found between a history of previous Gamma Knife surgery treatment (P = 0.225) or the extent of resection (P = 0.438) and impaired FN outcomes. History of previous surgery was identified as an unfavorable predictive recovery factor of impaired postoperative FN function (P = 0.034). As long as the extent of resection or additional Gamma Knife surgery have not been identified as predictive risk factors of postoperative FN palsy, we suggest that optimal resection is the main option for patients harboring large VS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]