[Hoarseness after removing a cervical schwannoma--a case report]

A 54-year-old man complained of asymptomatic lump in the right parotid gland region. The lump was well movable and had no fixation to the adjacent tissue. The lump was surgically extirpated and histological sections of the lump revealed benign schwannoma. In view of postoperative evidence of hoarseness, it was thought the tumor might be arose from the cervical vagal nerve. The hoarseness has been observed for one year after operation without any improvement. A statistic study on the hoarseness after removing the cervical tumor was done by sending out questionnaires to the members of the council of the Japan Surgical Society. Of 270, 180 replies were obtained and 67.2% of the members answered that they did not have any knowledge about the hoarseness after removing the cervical tumor.