title: Hearing preservation in patients with unilateral vestibular schwannoma after gamma knife surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The majority of patients still lose the functionality of their hearing in spite of the technical advances in microsurgery. Our aim was to evaluate the hearing preservation potential of Gamma Knife Surgery. We have reviewed our experience and the literature in order to evaluate the probability to obtain such functional preservation and the factors influencing it.
  
  
  METHODS
  Since July 1992, 2,053 patients have been operated on by Gamma Knife Radiosurgery in Timone University Hospital. This population included 184 unilateral schwannoma patients with functional preoperative hearing (Gardner-Robertson 1 or 2) treated by first intention radiosurgery with a marginal dose lower than 13 Gy. The population included 74 patients with subnormal hearing (class 1). All have been studied with a follow-up longer than 3 years. Univariate and multivariate analyses have been carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Numerous parameters greatly influence the probability of functional hearing preservation at 3 years, which is globally 60%. The main preoperative parameters of predictability are limited hearing loss that is Gardner-Robertson stage 1 (vs. 2), presence of tinnitus, young age of the patient and small size of the lesion. The functional hearing preservation at 3 years is 77.8% when the patient is initially in stage 1, 80% in patients with tinnitus as a first symptom and 95% when the patient has both. In these patients, the probability of functional preservation at 5 years is 84%. Comparison of these results with the main series of the literature confirms the reproducibility of our results. Additionally, we have demonstrated a higher chance of hearing preservation when the dose to the cochlea is lower than 4 Gy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We report a large population of patients treated by radiosurgery with functional preoperative hearing. These results demonstrate the possibility to preserve functional hearing in a high percentage of selected patients. Radiosurgery offers them a higher chance of functional hearing preservation than microsurgery or simple follow-up.
authors.affiliation: Groupe d'Otoneurochirurgie de l'Hôpital Universitaire de la Timone, Marseille, France.
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Régis
authors.forename: Manabu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Christine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Delsanti
authors.forename: Pierre-Hugues
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Roche
authors.forename: William
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Pellet
authors.forename: Jean-Marc
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Thomassin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001299:Audiometry; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D034381:Hearing Loss / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009464:Neuroma, Acoustic / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016634:Radiosurgery; D011879:Radiotherapy Dosage; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult