[Four cases of extracranial trigeminal benign neurogenic tumors]

Extracranial trigeminal schwannomas are rare tumors accounting for about 10% of all trigeminal schwannomas. We report herein on four cases of extracranial trigeminal benign neurogenic tumors. The patients were aged between 39 and 75 years; they consisted of one male and three females. The origins of the schwannomas consisted of the maxillary nerve in two cases and the mandibular nerve in two cases. All cases were surgically treated using a transmaxillary approach in three cases, and a combination of the transcervical-parotid approach with a midline mandibulotomy in one case. In two cases, the schwannomas located in the pterygopalatine fossa were removed using a transmaxillary approach with the endoscope and the surgical microscope. Two patients underwent selective intravascular embolization of the feeding artery to reduce intraoperative bleeding, and they were less invasively treated via the transmaxillary approach.