Neurilemmoma of the Ninth Cranial Nerve Masquerading as an Acoustic Neuroma

The clinical and roentgenographic features of a patient with a neuroma arising in the ninth cranial nerve were studied. Unusual features included lack of involvement of the tenth and 11th cranial nerves, and presenting complaints simulating an acoustic neuroma. To our knowledge, this is the first reported study of a ninth cranial nerve neuroma by means of positive contrast cerebellopontine cisternography and successful removal by the translabyrinthine approach.