The incidence of symptoms consistent with cerebellopontine angle lesions in a general ENT out-patient clinic.
To quantify the potential burden for screening for cerebellopontine angle lesions, all adult new patients attending the ENT outpatient department of a district general hospital were documented to see if their presenting symptom(s) could be consistent with the presence of a cerebellopontine angle lesion. Of the patients, 19.7 per cent were found to be potential candidates for screening. A 15 decibel asymmetry at one frequency was found in 11.8 per cent of patients. The burden of screening with a variety of audiological and symptomatic protocols was quantified. Effective age limits to reduce the burden for screening were found to be either 65 or 75 years of age. With such a large potential pool of patients for further investigation, the results of this study could be used to suggest protocols which are likely to produce a load of cases, which matches local resources for screening.
Harcourt
J P
JP
Department of Otolaryngology, Northwick Park Hospital, Harrow, Middlesex, UK.
Vijaya-Sekaran
S
S
Loney
E
E
Lennox
P
P
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D002530:Cerebellopontine Angle; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000209:etiology*; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008875:Middle Aged; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis; D010036:Otolaryngology; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D012372:ROC Curve; D014012:Tinnitus / Q000209:etiology*; D014717:Vertigo / Q000209:etiology