Auditory brain stem responses in the diagnosis of cerebellopontine angle tumours

There is a constant search for more reliable methods of diagnosing cerebellopontine angle tumours at an early stage. The auditory brain stem responses promise to be of use as such a method. In two patients with extracanalicular neurinomas we found a definitely abnormal brain stem response even though conventional tests produced a cochlear type of test pattern. In a third patient with a meningeoma we obtained a similar type of response. Here the conventional tests clearly pointed to the presence of retrocochlear disease. Characteristic findings are a broadening of the whole nerve action potential and a delay in the appearance of the Jewettv-FFP7 complex.