title: Small vestibular schwannomas in the elderly: a management dilemma.
abstract: Small vestibular schwannomas were diagnosed in two elderly patients and, for different reasons, a policy of watch and wait was instituted. One was reliable in attending for follow-up and lived for over 20 years without surgical intervention. The other was unreliable in follow-up, there was an unexpected and undetected acceleration of the growth rate and urgent surgery became imperative at the age of 77 years. This provided to be unsuccessful. A watch and wait policy is acceptable in the elderly but only if the patient can be relied upon to co-operate in follow-up attendance and imaging.
authors.affiliation: Eye and Ear Clinic, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Parekh
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Kerr
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001299:Audiometry; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006311:Hearing Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*; D013063:Speech Discrimination Tests; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D015837:Vestibular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000628:therapy*