Modified translab

[LMH]

Does anyone have any information on the modified translab.  My neurotologist said he'd be willing to try it to see if hearing could be preserved at all.  There's obviously no guarantee and it could add several hours to the surgery since he'd be getting in a little differently than with the translab.  His partner, my neurosurgeon seemed to think it wouldn't save the hearing and therefore wouldn't be worth it.  Just wanted to see if anyone had any knowledge on the subject.

Thanks!
Lisa

[leapyrtwins]

Lisa -

don't have any info on modified translab.  But I do have a question.  If it's supposed to be an attempt to save your hearing, why not just do retrosigmoid 

Jan

[pswift00]

Lisa -

don't have any info on modified translab.  But I do have a question.  If it's supposed to be an attempt to save your hearing, why not just do retrosigmoid 

Jan

If the tumor is bigger than 2 centimeters, then the chances of saving your hearing via retrosig are really only about 10-15% anyway. 

[leapyrtwins]

True, but 10-15% is better than 0%.

I knew that with retrosigmoid I risked total hearing loss, but then again with translab it was a given.  As I told my doc, let's at least try to save what I've got.  If we can, we can.  If we can't, oh well.  At least we can say we tried.

Jan (call me dangerous, if you will  )

[MAlegant]

My tumor was big, I had retrosigmoid, and they did save my hearing.  So I guess I'm happy to be part of the 10-15%!
Marci

[leapyrtwins]

Marci -

while I wish I had been part of that 10-15%, if I had been, I wouldn't be able to sport this nifty titanium abutment on my head   

Seriously, it's great that you were able to keep your hearing, especially since your AN was big.  It's encouraging to know that hearing retention IS possible with retrosigmoid.  I was told it was, but it seems like a lot of us on the forum who had this approach ended up SSD. 

Jan

[MAlegant]

Hi Jan,
I know, I have no bling, I'm making my peace with that.  I'm not even a fat-head, just spackle.  What does that make me?
Marci

[Debbi]

Joe, JTD, also had retro sigmoid and retained some usable hearing in his AN ear, so there are definitely good outcomes out there!  And SSD really isn't the end of the world. 

Debbi

[wendysig]

Hi Lisa,

I am going to guess that your doc wants to try modified translab because retorsigmoid is not an option.  I know my doc said that even though I had good hearing (80% speech discrimination at the time of my diagnosis),  because of the lateral position of my AN,  retrosigmoid was not an option for me.  He further stated that because of the lateral position of my tumor, if he tried the retrosigmoid approach he might have to expose the entire inner earl, thereby destroying my hearing. The options he gave me were translabrinthine and middle fossa.  We had planned on middle fossa, but I had two sudden hearing drops before my surgery and was down to 24% speech discrimination.  Subsequently, I had the translabrinthiine approac and am now SSD..  He didn't mention the modified translabrinthine approach and it would not have been practical for me.  but  I did read about it after my surgery.  Based on what I read, the possibility of  hearing preservation with this approach, while possible, is quite low.  I wish I had saved that article, but unfortunately didn't; I will take a leap here and guess you are not willing to gamble with your facial nerve (and who can blame you?) and are therefore not interested in middle fossa, which could also save your hearing.

Best wishes,
Wendy