Intracranial schwannoma of the hypoglossal nerve

Two patients had a solitary intracranial schwannoma of the hypoglossal nerve. Such schwannomas are rare, and these two cases bring the total number of reported cases to 16. Hemiatrophy of the tongue is always present but is rarely reported by patients. Diagnosis can be facilitated by high-resolution computed tomographic scanning of the posterior fossa and foramen magnum region. The hazards formerly associated with removal of these tumors have largely been eliminated.