Cavernous Malformation of the Seventh Cranial Nerve: Case Report and Review of Literature

Eesha Maiodna; Faiz U Ahmad; Jacques J Morcos

doi:10.1016/j.wneu.2016.04.104

Cavernous Malformation of the Seventh Cranial Nerve: Case Report and Review of Literature

World Neurosurg. 2016 Jul:91:676.e13-21. doi: 10.1016/j.wneu.2016.04.104. Epub 2016 May 4.

Authors

Eesha Maiodna¹, Faiz U Ahmad², Jacques J Morcos³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA.
² Department of Neurological Surgery, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, USA. Electronic address: Faiz.Ahmad@emory.edu.
³ Department of Neurosurgery, University of Miami, Miami, Florida, USA. Electronic address: jmorcos@med.miami.edu.

PMID: 27155386
DOI: 10.1016/j.wneu.2016.04.104

Abstract

Background: Cavernous malformations (CMs) arising in the cranial nerves are rare. Only a few cases of facial nerve CMs have been reported in the literature.

Case description: A 52-year old woman presented with headache, unilateral worsening facial weakness, and hearing loss. Imaging was suggestive of a CM of the cerebellopontine angle. Intraoperatively, a mulberry-shaped lesion was seen arising entirely within the seventh nerve. The patient underwent complete resection with sural nerve interposition graft.

Conclusions: CMs are very rare but should be included in the differential diagnosis of cerebellopontine angle masses.

Keywords: Cavernous malformation; Cranial nerve; Facial nerve; Internal auditory meatus.

Publication types

Case Reports
Review

MeSH terms

Cerebellopontine Angle / diagnostic imaging
Cerebellopontine Angle / pathology*
Cerebellopontine Angle / surgery
Cranial Nerve Neoplasms / complications*
Cranial Nerve Neoplasms / diagnostic imaging
Cranial Nerve Neoplasms / surgery*
Facial Nerve / diagnostic imaging
Facial Nerve / surgery*
Female
Hemangioma, Cavernous / etiology*
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Middle Aged
Tomography Scanners, X-Ray Computed