Can hearing improve after acoustic tumor radiosurgery?

Advances in noninvasive diagnostic techniques have enabled physicians to diagnose acoustic tumors early, while hearing is still present. Applications of advanced operative techniques have allowed surgeons to decrease progressively the operative mortality to virtually zero, to save facial nerve function in a large number of patients, and even to preserve serviceable hearing in selected patients. Documented improvement in hearing after acoustic tumor surgery is rare. During the last decade, stereotactic radiosurgery has evolved as a noninvasive surgical option for acoustic tumors. Hearing improvement after radiosurgery has not been reported. The authors observed hearing improvement in 21 out of 487 patients who had radiosurgery during a 10-year interval. This article reviews their experience of hearing improvement after radiosurgery and suggests possible reasons that hearing can not only be retained but also improved in selected patients.