Visual Suppression Tests in Acoustic Neuroma Patients

Abstract

Fifty-five patients with a unilateral acoustic neuroma were investigated preoperatively with visual suppression tests during rotatory oscillation and caloric irrigation. During a sinusoidal oscillation, 29% of the patients showed a reduced suppression compared to 9% during pseudo-random oscillation and 11 % in the caloric test. In the sinusoidal and caloric tests the majority of the patients with deficient suppression had large or medium-sized tumors. In a few patients with small tumors, pathology was observed in both sinusoidal and randomized tests, presumably as a sign of unconcentration. The study shows that the sinusoidal visual suppression test and to a lesser degree suppression during caloric irrigation are of value for identification of brainstem-cerebellum compression of acoustic neuromas.

Key Words:

• visual suppression
• rotatory
• caloric tests
• acoustic neuroma