surgical outcomes of cerebellopontine angle tumors in 50 cases

introduction: to report our experience with a large series of surgical procedures for removal of cerebellopontine angle (cpa) tumors using different approaches.   materials and methods: this was a retrospective analysis of 50 patients (mean age, 49 years) with cpa tumors (predominantly acoustic neuroma) who underwent surgical removal using appropriate techniques (principally a translabyrinthine approach) during a 4-year period.   results: one death occurred during this study. there were nine cases (18%) of cerebrospinal fluid leak, and five patients (10%) were diagnosed as having bacterial meningitis. complete gross tumor removal was not achieved in four patients (8%). facial nerve function as measured by the house brackmann system was recorded in all patients 1 year following surgery: 32% had a score of 1 or 2; 26% had a score of 3 or 4; and 8% had a score of 5 or 6. other complications included four cases of wound infection.   conclusion:  the translabyrinthine approach was predominantly used in our series of cpa tumors, and complication rates were comparable with other large case series.