The Significance Of Intraoperetive Facial Nerve Monitoring For Facial Nerve Preservation And Evaluation For Prognosis In Cerebellopontine Angle Tumors

Objective:To explore the clinical significance of intraoperetive facial nerve monitoring for facial nerve preservation during the surgery of cerebellopontine angle tumors and evaluation for prognosis.Materials and Methods:The Cadwell-CR32device was used to monitor the facial nerve function in42cases of the cerebellopontine angle tumors during surgery. When the tumor was resected, the brainstem end of facial nerve was stimulated with various stimulating intensity, and trigged EMG was observed. Facial nerve function was assessed using the H-B facial nerve grading system preoperatively and postoperatively.The data were collected and analyzed by SPSS19.0software.Results:The facial nerve was preserved anatomically in40cases. H-B grade â… /â…¡ function was retained for69%at6months after surgery. Stimulating intensity of EMG in brainstem end of the facial nerve were positively correlated with postoperative facial nerve function (6months, r=0.708, P<0.05). Conclusions:Intraoperative nerve monitoring can determine the location of facial nerve in the cerebellopontine angle tumor, furthermore, reduce the facial nerve damage. A large tumor may obliterate facial nerve function in patients after operation. The results demonstrate that tumor texture do not affect facial nerve function postoperatively. The smaller values in brainstem end of facial nerve stimulation, the better postoperative facial nerve function is retained.