Cerebellopontine angle tumours in black South Africans--how rare are acoustic schwannomas?
Previous reports of intracranial neoplasms from Africa have all shown a very low incidence of acoustic schwannomas (neuromas). In this series a group of 11 cerebellopontine angle solid tumours from black Africans were studied. On conventional histological examination only 3 had the features of a schwannoma. However, by using immunohistochemistry, a further 3 examples were identified. As controls, the same antisera were also applied to known schwannomas and meningiomas. During the period of the study, 163 patients with primary intracranial neoplasms were seen and thus acoustic schwannomas accounted for 3.7%. Although this figure is low by world standards, it still represents a far higher figure than has previously been reported from Africa. This study therefore emphasises the value of immunohistochemistry in the diagnosis of brain tumours and, furthermore, shows that acoustic schwannoma must be considered in the appropriate clinical setting, even in a group previously regarded as low-risk.
Department of Histopathology, Postgraduate Medical School, University of Exeter, Devon, UK.
R H
RH
Simpson
O C
OC
Sparrow
M S
MS
Duffield
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008579:Meningioma / Q000175:diagnosis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D013019:South Africa / Q000453:epidemiology