Case report
Calcification of vestibular schwannoma: a case report and literature review
1 Department of Neurosurgery, First Hospital of Jilin University, 71 Xinmin Avenue, Changchun, 130021, China
2 Department of Pathology, First Hospital of Jilin University, 71 Xinmin Avenue, Changchun, 130021, China
World Journal of Surgical Oncology 2012, 10:207 doi:10.1186/1477-7819-10-207
Published: 2 October 2012Abstract
Calcification rarely occurs in vestibular schwannoma (VS), and only seven cases of calcified VS have been reported in the literature. Here, we report a 48-year-old man with VS, who had a history of progressive left-sided hearing loss for 3 years. Neurological examination revealed that he had left-sided hearing loss and left cerebellar ataxia. Magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography angiography showed a mass with calcification in the left cerebellopontine angle (CPA). The tumor was successfully removed via suboccipital craniotomy, and postoperative histopathology showed that the tumor was a schwannoma. We reviewed seven cases of calcified VS that were previously reported in the literature, and we analyzed and summarized the characteristics of these tumors, including the calcification, texture, and blood supply. We conclude that calcification in VS is associated with its texture and blood supply, and these characteristics affect the surgical removal of the tumor.
