| Title | Is an acoustic neuroma an epiarachnoid or subarachnoid tumor? | | Author(s) | Kohno M, Sato H, Sora S, Miwa H, Yokoyama M | | Institution | Department of Neurosurgery, Tokyo Metropolitan Police Hospital, Tokyo, Japan. mkouno-nsu@umin.ac.jp | | Source | Neurosurgery 2011 Apr; 68(4):1006-16; discussion 1016-7. | | MeSH | Adolescent
Adult
Aged
Brain Neoplasms
Female
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Neuroma, Acoustic
Retrospective Studies
Subarachnoid Space
Young Adult
| | Abstract | There are arguments about whether acoustic neuromas are epiarachnoid or subarachnoid tumors.To retrospectively examine 118 consecutively operated-on patients with acoustic neuromas to clarify this point.Epiarachnoid tumors are defined by the absence of an arachnoid membrane on the tumor surface after moving the arachnoid fold (double layers of the arachnoid membrane) toward the brainstem. In contrast, subarachnoid tumors are characterized by the arachnoid membrane remaining on the tumor surface after moving the arachnoid fold. Based on this hypothesis, we used intraoperative views and light and electron microscopy to confirm the existence of an arachnoid membrane after the arachnoid fold had been moved.The tumors were clearly judged to be subarachnoid tumors in 86 of 118 patients (73%), an epiarachnoid tumor in 2 patients (2%), whereas a clear judgment was difficult to make in the remaining 30 patients (25%).The majority of acoustic neuromas are subarachnoid tumors, with epiarachnoid tumors being considerably less common. | | Language | eng | | Pub Type(s) | Comparative Study
Journal Article
| | PubMed ID | 21221036 |
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