The relationship between pre-operative symptoms, operative findings and postoperative complications in schwannomas

This study presents a retrospective review of the management of schwannomas in the limbs and examines the relationship between pre-operative clinical examination, operative findings and postoperative neurological complications. Eighteen tumours with a histological diagnosis of schwannoma in 17 patients who underwent surgery between 1998 and 2004 were the basis of this study. Enucleation of the tumour was possible in 14 cases. None of these patients had neurological complications pre-operatively but eight had mild neurological complications postoperatively. The complications consisted of sensory deficit in five cases, motor weakness in one and both in two. Enucleation of the tumours was impossible in four cases. These schwannomas originated in the brachial plexus in three cases and the ulnar nerve in the proximal arm in one case. Tumours with pre-operative symptoms and masses located at a proximal site in the limb were more likely to be impossible to enucleate completely.