Cavernous haemangioma of the internal auditory canal: a case report

We report a patient with a cavernous haemangioma of the internal auditory canal (IAC). A 47-year-old man presented with a left profound hearing loss and a left facial palsy that had progressed over 5 years. With a preoperative diagnosis of acoustic or facial nerve neurinoma, the tumour was removed totally by a translabyrinthine approach. Intraoperatively, the tumour appeared red; it compressed the facial and cochlear nerves, and adhered to the vestibular nerve. The tumour was diagnosed as a cavernous haemangioma upon histologic and immunohistochemical examination. No recurrence of tumour occurred, but hearing loss and left facial palsy persisted. Although cavernous haemangiomas of the IAC is found in small size less than 10 mm, they often cause severe hearing loss and facial palsy. Our patient had no improvement of facial palsy, but many reports describe recovery of facial nerve function.