Abstract
Schwannomas are peripheral nerve sheath tumours arising from cranial, spinal or peripheral
nerves. Most of the schwannomas are benign with the rare possibility of malignant
transformation. Cranial nerve schwannomas can be seen along the course of any cranial
nerve in the intracranial region or head and neck location. Although a majority are
solitary sporadic lesions, multiple schwannomas can be seen in syndromes like neurofibromatosis
type 2 and rarely in type 1. Since intracranial schwannomas are slow-growing, clinical
presentation varies between no symptoms to cranial nerve palsy. Most of the times,
the symptoms are due to mass effect over the adjacent structures, foraminal widening,
compression of other cranial nerves, denervation injury or hydrocephalus. Familiarity
with the course of the cranial nerves, imaging appearances and clinical presentation
of schwannomas helps in accurate diagnosis and possible differential diagnosis, especially
in uncommon clinical and radiological appearances. In this pictorial review, we illustrate
relevant anatomy of cranial nerves, imaging features of schwannomas of most of the
cranial nerves, clinical presentation and differential diagnosis.
Keywords
Anatomy - clinical presentation - cranial nerve - differential diagnosis - magnetic
resonance imaging - schwannoma
