Presurgical electrophysiological findings in acoustic nerve tumours

Electromyogr Clin Neurophysiol. 1992 Mar;32(3):119-23.

Abstract

The clinical involvement of the facial nerve is a rare finding among the initial symptoms of acoustic neurinomas. However, compression of the facial nerve is a common intraoperative finding. Blink reflex was recorded in 20 patients affected by cerebellar-pontine angle tumor confirmed at surgery. Recordings were also made of the M-response of the facial nerve from the naso-labial folds. In 6 cases jaw reflex was also recorded. In summary, these electrophysiological studies revealed a facial nerve damage in 13 and a trigeminal nerve dysfunction in 2 out of 18 clinically unaffected patients. The combined study of the 3 tests proved to be useful when the blink reflex showed an isolated R1 delay, that is, in cases in which the level of damage along the trigemino-facial reflex arc cannot be defined by the recording of the blink reflex alone.

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Blinking / physiology*
  • Child
  • Electromyography
  • Electrophysiology
  • Facial Nerve / physiopathology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Masseter Muscle / innervation
  • Masseter Muscle / physiopathology*
  • Middle Aged
  • Neural Conduction / physiology
  • Neuroma, Acoustic / physiopathology*
  • Reaction Time
  • Reflex / physiology*