Has anyone retained hearing after retrosigmoid?

[Mark]

I think this is a great question and one that I would be very interested to hear a surgeon or other qualified clinician explain. In modern AN surgery virtually every procedure involves nerve monitoring, yet facial nerve damage still occurs. In my limited understanding of how the machines work, they are picking up a signal from the nerve but they are not that exact to insure no damage has occurred. As long as the nerve is intact it will transmit a signal to the monitor, however any nicks to the nerve can cause a temporary or permanent deficit. I would also suspect that any change to the monitor signal may be already too late as opposed to a early warning to "back off". I do not believe they provide an early warning that the surgeon is "close" , I think they react when the nerve has been impacted. All this is best guess on my part and I freely admit to being beyond my knowledge base in this area. Hopefully someone can get a more qualified answer.

Mark

[Cheryl R]

Tumor location can cause facial problems also.    If ones tumor is all in the IAC and squashing the facial nerve or stretching it, there can be problems.            I think this is what happended with my first surgery as I had good monitoring response.                 I had good monitoring rresponse this past spring too and no facial paralysis and the tumor was  in the IAC on the other side but probably less time with the larger size.            We were able to watch the growth with this last tumor. Also whether it is on the superior or inferior vestibular nerve may make a difference.
                                            Cheryl R

[leapyrtwins]

Cheryl -

I didn't even know there were superior and inferior vestibular nerves.

Interesting to know that despite nerve monitoring, location can still make a difference.

Jan

[Cheryl R]

The hearing loss can also be affected by which vestibular nerve the tumor is on.    They are more often on the inferior and there can be a chance of having better hearing if it is on the superior.   It has been some time ago since I read this.    I have some darn memory issues anymore so do not have some of the details completely available when I want.           Sometimes they show up  all of a sudden and sometimes not. 
                                                     Cheryl R

[hruss]

Kate,

I have retained hearing after my two retrosigmoid surgeries and I can definitely boast  that my hearing servers me well - I can hear on the phone (but not as crystal clear as with the good ear).

Hrissy