Another name for Acoustic Neuroma is vestibular schwannoma. It is a tumor found inside the cranium or skull and within the nerve in the ear. The medical term for the nerve is vestibulocochlear. This nerve is responsible for balance, called equilibrium, and the sound information that is sent from the inner ear to the brain.
Damage to the vestibulocochlear nerve resulting from an acoustic neuroma, can cause a patient to experience total or partial hearing loss, a lack of balance, ear pressure, and/or nausea.Didn’t catch that? This explains it. Some patients also experience tinnitus or lack of taste and other senses around the mouth and face.
Surgery and radiation therapy are the most common resolutions for this condition which is typically noncancerous. Patients who are not candidates for surgery or radiation therapy can be treated with more conservative alternatives which cause the tumors to grow more slowly, but are not meant to be curative.
As with any medical condition, early diagnosis and treatment are vital. CT scans and MRIs are used to detect acoustic neuromas large and small respectively; audiology and vestibular examinations are used to observe air and bone conduction thresholds. Without proper diagnosis and treatment this disorder can lead to permanent impairment of the senses.