Balance question for post ops?

[kke]

I am confused somewhat, please help.  When having a middle fossa craniotomy and removing a vestibular schwannoma, do they remove the cranial nerve?  or the tumor on the nerve?  Is this the balance nerve? or the hearing nerve?  If it is the "balance" nerve, how do you "balance" when it is removed?

thanks so much for any replies..........I am in learning mode..........

[Evan]

It is my understanding that the point of doing middle fossa, is to preserve the hearing.  Hence they avoid doing any nerve damage.  A consequence can be some facial nerve damage and that is the one down side of middle Fossa (in addition to the fact that the cerebellum has to be pulled away and it is a more difficult surgery).

Usually middle fossa is used when there is substantial hearing remaining and you want to preserve it.

What is the size of your tumor?

Evan

[eugd]

How big is the tumor, who and where are you doing the surgery? I was lucky enough not to have any balance or vertigo after the surgery. with bigger tumors the brain compensates gradually over time, by having the opposite side do most of the sensory and perception functions, with smaller tumors the brain compensates also, sometimes its quickly in my case, and sometimes it takes a while.  There are many factors, age, location of the tumor, method of removal, and other factors that may go wrong due to the surgery. Every case is different. 

[tony]

The human body (in un modified form) has two balance nerves (L/R)
The hearing nerve and the balance nerve are almost
two ends of the same organ
Even if one side is totalled - you can still re-learn to fly on one
Often its harder to balance with two (when one is misfiring)
than with just the one, that works 100%
Local bruising or post op swelling may create issues in the short
term but full balance nerve removal is rare - usually only if the tumour
is engauged somehow with it - is it required
Incredibly there are NF2s who can walk - missing both
balance nerves - but  dont ask me how
theoretically its impossible - but they do it anyway....
best regards
Tony

[kke]

The tumor is 8 mm, small and doing the surgery at House Ear for an attempt to preserve hearing.  (NF2'er.......)

[Desilu]

Hi

My tumor was 5mm x 8mm and I went to House Ear Clinic. Dr. Brackmann and Dr. Hitselberger were my doctors. They were able to save my hearing. I only lost about 15%. As Tony has stated in his posted, it is better to have one balance nerve than two and have one of them misfiring. They did sever my balance nerve but your body compensates for it and in a few weeks you should be pretty much back to normal. They did use the Middle Fossa Approach. If you need futher information, please feel free to email me. I wish you the best on your AN journey.  Ann

[Boppie]

As I understnad it, the remaining balance and cochlear mechanism compensates and takes over the job for balancing both sides. Also, the eyes have an important part to play in balance.  Isn't the human body wonderful? 

Tony, I agree.  It is hard to understand how people manage with zero balance nerve.