Glossopharyngeal Neurinoma Report of 6 cases and review of the literature

Objective and Importance: Glosspharyngeal schwannomas are rare tumors; there have been 46 reported cases in the literature. This report of six cases is the one of the largest series of these tumors. Our aim is to emphasize the importance of particular focus on clinical symptoms, imaging findings and surgical management of this tumor. Clinical Presentation: In 20 years of our experiences we operated five cases of glossopharyngeal schowannomas, 3 female and 3 male age between 24-25 years, the tumor locations were 4 intracranial, 2 dumb-bell and the symptoms were hearning loss in 4 patients, hoarseness in 4 patients gag reflex deficit in 2 and taste impairment in 2 patients. Intervention: All six cases underwent retromastoid sub-occipital craniectomy. At surgery the tumor was seen to be arising from 9th cranial nerve. Total excision of the mass was done in all cases. Histophathology of all six cases were consist with schowannoma. Conclusion: IX nerve neurinoma are rare and diagnosis can very often be difficult as specific signs of glossopharyngeal nerve involvement can be absent in most of the cases and clinical presentation may mimic an acoustic neurinoma. MRI is the more accurate diagnostic tool but usually, the identification of the nerve of origin of the tumor can be accomplished only at surgery.