Artikel
Learning curve in acoustic neuroma surgery
Suche in Medline nach
Autoren
Veröffentlicht: | 8. Juli 2008 |
---|
Gliederung
Text
Consultation of subjects with acoustic neuroma regarding outcome and risk for facial palcy should be based on hard evidence. Tumor size is known as an important prognostic factor. In this study we evaluate the influence of surgeon’s experience.
All 133 acoustic neuromas removed by our senior surgeon are included in the study, 75 via a translabyrinthine and 58 via a middle fossa approach. Function of the facial nerve has been evaluated immediately after surgery as well as one year after using the House-Brackmann classification. The results of the first 50% of the tumors were compared to those of the last 50% for each approach. A clear and significantly better outcome could be achieved in the chronologically last 50% of the surgeries demonstrating that increasing surgeon’s experience reduces the risk for facial palsy and dramatically improves outcome.