[The early diagnosis of cerebello-pontine angle tumors (author's transl)]

The early symptoms and findings of 25 patients with tumors of the internal auditory canal and cerebellopontine angle are described. Particular emphasis is placed on the diagnostic value of our methods for early tumor detection. Of the audiometric suprathreshold methods, the Carhart test, stapedius reflex audiometry, and the speech audiogram constituted the most reliable procedures for defining deafness due to involvement of the auditory nerve by tumor. All of the patients examined by electronystagmography showed a significant vestibular hypoexcitability on the side of tumor involvement. The methodology of the vestibular testing and its evaluation are detailed. Although these methods are complicated and time-consuming, they enable an early tumor diagnosis to be made so that surgical intervention will result in preservation of the facial nerve and markedly lessen surgical mortality.