title: Delayed recovery of speech discrimination after fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for vestibular schwannoma in neurofibromatosis 2.
abstract: Hearing loss commonly occurs after radiation therapy for an acoustic neuroma, and it is highly unusual for hearing to return after a prolonged period of time. We report the case of a 12-year-old boy with neurofibromatosis 2 who underwent fractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for the treatment of a left-sided vestibular schwannoma. Following treatment, he demonstrated an elevation of pure-tone audiometric thresholds and a sudden decrease in speech discrimination score (SDS) to 0%. However, 20 months postoperatively, his SDS suddenly and spontaneously rose to 92%, although there was no improvement in his speech reception threshold. We discuss the possible reasons for the unusual outcome in this patient.
authors: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, DC, USA.
authors: Michael
authors: M
authors: Hoa
authors: Eric P
authors: EP
authors: Wilkinson
authors: William H
authors: WH
authors: Slattery
mesh_terms: D001301:Audiometry, Pure-Tone; D002648:Child; D006319:Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D016518:Neurofibromatosis 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D016634:Radiosurgery; D013067:Speech Perception; D013069:Speech Reception Threshold Test; D013997:Time Factors