[Tinnitus after microsurgical interventions at the internal auditory canal (author's transl)]

The preoperative and postoperative complaints of tinnitus of 126 patients were compared who had undergone microsurgery of the internal auditory canal. Evaluation of the questionnaires revealed that after section of the cochlear nerve in 11 cases of otherwise therapy-resistant tinnitus, total or partial relief was obtained in five of the patients. After surgery for cerebellopontine angle tumors (n = 46) or after neurectomy of the vestibular nerve of menière's disease (n = 34) tinnitus, in general, was neither initiated nor increased. Therefore, operations at the internal auditory meatus do not constitute a special risk with respect to iatrogenic generation of tinnitus.