Vestibular Schwannoma: Microsurgery or Radiosurgery

Abstract

A vestibular schwannoma (VS) is a benign tumor that arises from the neurilemmal sheath of the vestibular nerve. VSs make up to 6–8% of all intracranial tumors and 70–80% of all cerebellopontine angle tumors. Three therapeutic options are currently considered for VS: expectant treatment, microsurgical resection, and radiosurgery. No class I evidence exists to support one treatment over the others, and some clinical aspects are usually taken into consideration in the decision-making process. Very few comparative studies published so far have addressed the clinical aspects supporting any one treatment modality. The pathology, diagnosis and treatment of VS are discussed in this chapter. Moreover, we aim in this chapter to discuss the results of the most recent clinical studies performed on different treatment strategies for VS. In addition, the results of the comparative studies between microsurgical and radiosurgical treatments for VS are discussed.