Identification of factors associated with tinnitus outcomes following the microsurgical treatment of vestibular schwannoma patients

Background Tinnitus is common in vestibular schwannoma patients, but the postoperative tinnitus status of these patients and related factors remain unclear. Aims To identify preoperative and operative factors associated with postoperative tinnitus status. Materials and methods Postoperative outcomes were retrospectively assessed in 237 vestibular schwannomas (VS) patients with preoperative tinnitus and 90 VS patients without tinnitus. Results When evaluating patients with preoperative tinnitus, there were significant differences in rates of improvement, no change, and worsening of tinnitus for the translabyrinthine (TL) and retrosigmoid (RS) approaches. Of patients without preoperative tinnitus, there was a significant difference in rates of not developing tinnitus and new-onset tinnitus. Similar results were observed with respect to preoperative hearing. Least-squares analyses revealed that surgical approach and preoperative hearing were independent predictors of postoperative tinnitus. Preoperative pure tone averages for TL group patients that did not develop postoperative tinnitus were 85.8 dB, whereas in patients that developed new-onset tinnitus they were significantly lower (54.9 dB). Conclusions and significance Tinnitus prognosis in VS patients is better following TL microsurgery relative to RS microsurgery and is also better in patients with worse preoperative hearing. New-onset tinnitus was more likely to occur in patients with better preoperative hearing that underwent tumor removal via a TL approach.