Surgical management of cerebellopontine angle arachnoid cysts associated with hearing deficit in pediatric patients

Abstract

OBJECTIVEFew cases of cerebellopontine angle (CPA) arachnoid cysts in pediatric patients have been described in the literature, and in only 2 of these cases were the patients described as suffering from hearing deficit. In this article, the authors report on 3 pediatric patients with CPA arachnoid cysts (2 with hearing loss and 1 with recurrent headaches) who underwent neurosurgical treatment at the authors’ institution.METHODSFour pediatric patients were diagnosed with CPA arachnoid cysts at the International Neuroscience Institute during the period from October 2004 through August 2012, and 3 of these patients underwent surgical treatment. The authors describe the patients’ clinical symptoms, the surgical approach, and the results on long-term follow-up.RESULTSOne patient (age 14 years) who presented with headache (without hearing deficit) became asymptomatic after surgical treatment. The other 2 patients who underwent surgical treatment both had hearing loss. One of these children (age 9 years) had recent-onset hypacusia and experienced complete recovery immediately after the surgery. The other (age 6 years) had a longer history (2 years) of progressive hearing loss and showed an interruption of the deficit progression and only mild improvement at the follow-up visit.CONCLUSIONSCPA arachnoid cysts are uncommon in pediatric patients. The indication and timing of the surgical treatment are fundamental, especially when a hearing deficit is present.