Intracranial Schwannoma of the Spinal Accessory Nerve

A 28-year-old man presented with ataxic gait, left side hearing loss and vertigo, symptoms which had first appeared four months previously. MRI showed a 3X4cm mass in the left cerebellopontine angle. The tumor was totally removed via the suboccipital route; During removal, the distal part of the nerve root from which the tumor arose was stimulated and confirmed to be a spinal accessory nerve. Immediately after surgery, the patient's hearing returned and the other symptoms improved rapidly. Histologic examination showed that the tumor was a schwannoma.