突発性難聴様発症後聴力の著明な回復を示した聴神経腫瘍の1症例

Acoustic Neuroma with Fluctuating Sensory-neural Hearing Loss: A Case Report

I．はじめに

　近年CT scan, ABRなどの発達により聴神経腫瘍の診断は大きく進歩し，いわゆるear tumorや難聴のない聴神経腫瘍の報告も散見される。が一方，非典型的臨床経過をたどり診断が困難な症たのであるが，1年後再び同様の聴力低下を生じ，そのさいCT scanにて小脳橋角部腫瘍が発見されたものである。ここに症例を提示し，文献的考察を加えて報告する。

A 50-year-old female complained of left hearing disturbance. Audiometry showed a left hearing impairment of sensory-neural type. Sudden deaf-ness was suspected and medical treatment was started. By this treatment, hearing was gradually recovered to a fixed level of 25 dB HL for 3 months.

About 1 year after the initial onset, the hearing impairment was occurred in the left ear with ver-tigo. CT scan revealed a left cerebello-pontine-angle tumor, which was operated upon, and his-topathological diagnosis was neurinoma.

The authors emphasize that all the unilateral sensory-neural hearing losses with fluctuation or relapse have a possibility of cerebello-pontine-angle tumor. This may imply for otolaryngologists the clinical importance of close observation on such patients.