Has anyone ever had a 3cm+ removed and still had hearing?

[miller]

If you did where was it done? i have had two different  opinions.  Just wanted to find out the likelihood of saving my hearing.

Thanks,

Cheryl

[CHD63]

Hi Cheryl .....

I am not a doctor, but much has to do with exactly where the tumor is expanding as it grows.  MRIs can tell only so much.  Often when a neurosurgeon gets in there, things look a bit different in relation to the nerves.

Translabyrinthine approach surgery always means complete loss of hearing because of the direction of the approach.  Mid fossa approach gives the best opportunity for hearing preservation ..... again depending upon exactly where the tumor is located.

I had retrosigmoid/suboccipital approach for my first AN (2.6 cm) surgery in the hopes of preserving hearing.  I had 80% of my hearing with 100% speech discrimination pre-surgery and 20% hearing with 100% speech discrimination post-surgery.  This was nicely boosted with a Widex hearing aid.  Unfortunately I was one of the 4-9% who can experience regrowth following retrosigmoid surgery so my second surgery 3 years later was translab.

Even when the auditory nerve is preserved during surgery, it is not a guarantee that hearing will return.

Best wishes and many prayers for hearing preservation.

Clarice

[miller]

Clarice,

Can regrowth occur with the translab approach?

Cheryl

[mk]

Hi,

you must be obviously talking about retrosigmoid, since translab always results in complete hearing loss.
I would say that you should check with your surgeon about his/her actual outcomes with tumors of this size. However generally the larger the tumor the harder it is to preserve hearing.
Often with retrosigmoid the nerve is anatomically preserved, but hearing is still lost or reduced. As Clarice said, even if hearing is reduced, it can still be useful if there is speech discrimination.
I would say that in all these years, I remember one patient, Adrienne, who had retrosigmoid surgery with Drs Akagami/Westerberg in Vancouver for an AN that was about 3 cm and her hearing was preserved (to serviceable levels). I am sure that there must be some others out there, who can chime in.

Marianna

[leapyrtwins]

Can regrowth occur with the translab approach?

Regrowth can happen with any surgical approach.  But if your tumor is removed "entirely", chances of regrowth are only about 1-2%.

I say "entirely" because it's a somewhat subjective word.  Docs will say that they removed a tumor entirely, or completely, if they believe they have.  However, even one cell left behind - that they didn't see - has the potential to grow.

As far as keeping your hearing when a 3+ cm tumor is removed, it pretty much depends on the approach.  As Marianna mentioned translab almost always means complete hearing loss.  It also depends on the location of the tumor.   

I had retrosigmoid and my AN was approximately 3 cms.  My doc said chances of saving my hearing weren't very good, but I wanted him to try anyway.  I ended up SSD because my tumor was wrapped around my hearing nerve and in order to remove the entire tumor my hearing nerve had to be sacrificed.

Jan

[miller]

Thank you for the information.  I was  wanting to know because I had a couple of docs recommend the retrosigmoid  procedure, and of course I would LOVE to retain some hearing, especially because it isn't that bad right now.  However, HEI recommended the translab due to the size of the tumor 3cm.  I know they have a lot of experience with this type of tumor, so  I have decided to go with HEI, but it is very strange to think that I will come out of surgery with no hearing.  I don't really have any symptoms right now, so it is very hard to wrap my brain around the fact that I have to have surgery!! 

Cheryl