Patients with a small cranial nerve tumor that can cause hearing loss, vertigo, imbalance and ringing in the ears have typically been watched rather than proactively treated, as the risks of early intervention were thought to outweigh the benefits. However, even those patients benefit significantly from non-invasive stereotactic radiosurgery, a multicenter, international study led by UVA Health physicians has found. Doctors typically treat larger forms of the tumors, called vestibular schwannomas, while taking a "watch and wait" approach to smaller tumors that aren't causing appreciable problems.
But the new research, from UVA Health neurosurgeon Jason Sheehan, MD, PhD, and collaborators, could change how asymptomatic schwannomas are managed. Their findings demonstrated that stereotactic radiosurgery – a highly targeted form of radiation therapy – can prevent small tumors from growing over time while at the same time sparing patients from potentially irreversible problems in the future. This study and our recent Vestibular Schwannoma International Study of Active Surveillance versus Stereotactic Radiosurgery [VISAS] trial demonstrate that radiosurgery affords effective and durable tumor control while more often avoiding the neurological complications that come from watching a vestibular schwannoma," Sheehan said.
"Over time, Gamma Knife radiosurgery bends the curve of growth and problems that commonly arise from watching even the smallest of vestibular schwannomas." Jason.