Variable Hearing preservation %

[Blake-T]

I was diagnosed about a year ago with a AN. It’s less than 10 cm right now, no balance issues just ringing in the ear. My first opinion (I’ll hold the hospitals name for now) they gave me about a 30% chance of hear preservation. While doing some looking online I found this paper out of San Diego that says their success rate is 68% for tumors that aren’t very large (<15 cm I think) Did anyone else have a similar experience that varied that greatly? I’m willing to expect a 10% difference as variance but 30 to 68 is basically a 180.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38769097/

[Mark F.]

The issue may be the approach.  There are a couple different approaches for AN surgery.  Each neurosurgeon is going to want to do the approach that they are the most comfortable with, not necessarily the one that provides the best option for hearing preservation.   You mentioned no balance issues, but other than tinnitus, what is your hearing level right now in that ear?  I ask that because I had very little hearing in my left ear before surgery, and I'm now single side deaf but honestly feel like I can actually hear better because the tinnitus has gone away and so there is less distortion in the background.  So hearing preservation isn't as important as you might think if your hearing is poor anyway.  On the other hand, if you still have most of your hearing in that ear, it might be more of a concern.  I was one that thought hearing preservation was a top priority beforehand.  And I was a little disappointed that it didn't work out for me (in spite of the surgeon saying they preserved the nerve).   It if I had known I could feel this much better, and actually have less distortion without the bad ear, I wouldn't have put so much value on hearing preservation in the first place.

[donjehle]

Mark F. gave a great answer, and it's true that most of us get along fine with limited or no hearing in one ear. (I use a CROS hearing aid system which has a microphone and transmitter in my bad ear and a receiver in my good ear so that everything that is spoken on my bad side is transmitted to my good ear.)

But, nonetheless, Blake-T, I think you should consider all options before your treatment.  After all, most people only have one chance to do it right.  Once a surgery is done, there is no undoing it later.  There are many here in these forums who have been treated at House in San Diego and have had very good results.  It is certainly an option which is worth exploring.  There are other good options as well.  Just make sure that wherever you choose to have your treatment is an institution with plenty of experience with vestibular schwannomas.  Unfortunately, some people on these forums had surgeries at the hospitals which were closest to their homes with surgeons who were not very experienced treating vestibular schwannomas, and the results were poor.  So, learn from their mistakes, and make sure you receive the very best treatment you believe you can receive.  After all, they are dealing with your brain!

Best wishes on your journey!
Don