Abstract
In this retrospective study (111 tumor; 1370 non-tumor patients), the effectiveness of the auditory brainstem response for identifying cerebellopontine angle tumors was studied using different criteria to interpret the test. Individual ABR features were examined. The I–V was best (sensitivity – 82%; specificity – 97%) but present for only 44% of the population; I–III (sensitivity – 50%; specificity – 96%) and III–V (sensitivity – 30%; specificity – 97%) were worst. Ninety-three percent of patients had V and ILDV, with good results (sensitivity – 74% and 81% respectively; specificity – 93% each). Three interpretation strategies were compared; (1) included the latencies of V. ILDV. I–V, III–V and I–III and ILDI–V, (2) excluded III–V and I–III. (3)used I–V and ILDI–V when available; V and ILDV otherwise. When corrected for hearing loss, strategy 3 provided significantly better specificity (91%) than strategy 1 (87%), with no significant difference in sensitivity (92% and 93%, respectively).