What are treatment options for an acoustic neuroma?
What are treatment options for an acoustic neuroma?
Your healthcare provider will discuss your treatment options with you. Your treatment plan will depend on:
- Tumor size and location.
- Your age and overall health.
- Degree of damage to your hearing and balance nerves.
Treatment options include:
- Observation: If the tumor is small, not growing and not causing any symptoms, your healthcare provider may recommend monitoring the tumor but not actively treating it. You will have regular MRI scans to see if the tumor is growing. If it does grow or cause symptoms, your provider can quickly switch to active treatment.
- Radiosurgery: For small and medium tumors, this approach may stop tumor growth. You receive a single high dose of targeted radiation therapy, delivered directly to the tumor. This approach limits the amount of radiation that affects surrounding, healthy tissues. You will need ongoing scans during treatment to watch for any tumor growth.
- Microsurgery: This type of surgery uses instruments designed to operate on small, delicate areas. The goal is to remove as much of the acoustic neuroma as possible while preserving your facial nerve function. Surgery is the only treatment option that permanently removes the tumor. In some cases, surgeons can preserve your hearing, though not always. The smaller the tumor, the more likely it can be removed and hearing preserved.