Trigeminal neuralgia due to an acoustic neuroma in the cerebellopontine angle.
This case report first reviews the intracranial tumors associated with symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia (TN). Among patients with TN-like symptoms, 6 to 16% are variously reported to have intracranial tumors. The most common cerebellopontine angle (CPA) tumor to cause TN-like symptoms is a benign tumor called an acoustic neuroma. The reported clinical symptoms of the acoustic neuroma are hearing deficits (60 to 97%), tinnitus (50 to 66%), vestibular disturbances (46 to 59%), numbness or tingling in the face (33%), headache (19 to 29%), dizziness (23%), facial paresis (17%), and trigeminal nerve disturbances (hypesthesia, paresthesia, and neuralgia) (12 to 45%). Magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium enhancement or computed tomography with contrast media are each reported to have excellent abilities to detect intracranial tumors (92 to 93%). This article then reports a rare case of a young female patient who was mistakenly diagnosed and treated for a temporomandibular disorder but was subsequently found to have an acoustic neuroma located in the CPA.
Matsuka
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Division of Oral Biology and Medicine, UCLA School of Dentistry, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Fort
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Merrill
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D000328:Adult; D002528:Cerebellar Neoplasms / Q000150:complications*; D002530:Cerebellopontine Angle / Q000473:pathology; D003287:Contrast Media; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005682:Gadolinium; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000150:complications*; D013705:Temporomandibular Joint Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014277:Trigeminal Neuralgia / Q000209:etiology*
D003287:Contrast Media; D005682:Gadolinium