European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

ACOUSTIC SCHWANOMA: VARIED PRESNTATION IN PSYCHIATRY

Dr. Amitabh Saha*, Dr. Amit Kumar, Dr. Kalpana Srivastava and Dr. Sanjay Saini

ABSTRACT

Acoustic shwanomma may present in myriad ways to the clinician. Acoustic neuromas are intracranial, extra-axial tumors that arise from the Schwann cell sheath investing either the vestibular or cochlear nerve. As acoustic neuromas increase in size, they eventually occupy a large portion of the cerebellopontine angle. Acoustic neuromas account for approximately 80% of tumors found within the cerebellopontine angle. They may present with hearing loss, headache, giddiness, tinnitus, facial numbing and in this particular case report with elementary hallucinations. Unilateral hearing loss is overwhelmingly the most common symptom present at the time of diagnosis and is generally the symptom that leads to diagnosis. We can almost safely assume that any unilateral sensorineural hearing loss is caused by an acoustic neuroma until proven otherwise. In the case reported in a 75 year old lady who presented with memory loss, ataxia, unilateral hearing loss with elementary hallucinations leading to sleep deprivation, she was managed on the lines of dementia with psychotic features. Following is the detailed report of case and the manner in which it presented to our clinic.

Keywords: Acoustic shwanomma, hearing loss, ataxia, hallucinations, cognitive loss, tinnitus.