Multiple Intracranial Schwannomas of the Vestibular and Trigeminal Nerves: A Technical Note

<black square> BACKGROUND: A schwannoma is a nerve sheath tumor that is formed by Schwann cells. Vestibular schwannomas are thought to account for the majority of intracranial schwannomas. Nonvestibular schwannomas account about 10%, about half of which are trigeminal schwannomas. Multiple intracranial schwannomas originating from different cranial nerves are extremely rare. <black square> METHODS: We describe the clinical case of a 42-year old female patient with vestibular schwannoma and multiple trigeminal schwannomas. <black square> RESULTS: That case shows how multiple trigeminal schwannomas were identified intraoperatively during elective surgery for vestibular schwannoma removal, most of which were resected. No new neurological deficits were observed in the patient. <black square> CONCLUSIONS: The presence of multiple intracranial schwannomas is extremely rare in neurosurgical practice and can change the intraoperative strategy and the course of the surgery.