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The risk of hearing loss in nongrowing, conservatively managed acoustic neuromas.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the risk of loss of useful hearing in the absence of tumor growth among patients undergoing conventional management of acoustic neuroma.


SETTING
Tertiary referral center.


STUDY DESIGN
Retrospective case review.


PATIENTS
Ten patients (12 ears) were identified having a period of no tumor growth of at least 6 months (19.0+/-12.8 months), and for whom at least two audiograms were available in this period.


INTERVENTIONS
None.


MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES
Loss of useful hearing defined using 70% speech discrimination score (SDS) and 30 dB pure tone average (PTA) (70/30), or 50% SD and 50 dB PTA (50/50) criteria.


RESULTS
Three of seven (43%) ears with useful hearing using the 70/30 rule and two of eight ears (25%) using the 50/50 rule lost this useful hearing.


CONCLUSIONS
There is a significant risk of useful hearing loss with conservative management of nongrowing acoustic neuromas.