The jugular foramen schwannomas: review of the large surgical series.

OBJECTIVE: Jugular foramen schwannomas are uncommon pathological conditions. This article is constituted for screening these tumors in a wide perspective.

MATERIALS: One-hundred-and-ninty-nine patients published in 19 articles between 1984 to 2007 years was collected from Medline/Index Medicus.

RESULTS: The series consist of 83 male and 98 female. The mean age of 199 operated patients was 40.4 years. The lesion located on the right side in 32 patients and on the left side in 60 patients. The most common presenting clinical symptoms were hearing loss, tinnitus, disphagia, ataxia, and hoarseness. Complete tumor removal was achieved in 159 patients. In fourteen patients tumor reappeared unexpectedly. The tumor was thought to originate from the glossopharyngeal nerve in forty seven cases; vagal nerve in twenty six cases; and cranial accessory nerve in eleven cases. The most common postoperative complications were lower cranial nerve palsy and facial nerve palsy. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage, meningitis, aspiration pneumonia and mastoiditis were seen as other complications.

CONCLUSION: This review shows that jugular foramen schwannomas still have prominently high morbidity and those complications caused by postoperative lower cranial nerve injury are life threat.