Background Radiation dose to the cochlea has been proposed as a key prognostic factor in hearing
preservation following stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for vestibular schwannoma (VS).
However, data regarding the impact of cochlear dose on hearing outcomes following
SRS for treatment of other lateral skull base neoplasms are scarce.
Methods A prospectively maintained database was retrospectively reviewed for patients with
posterior fossa meningioma or jugular paragangliomas, serviceable hearing (AAO-HNSF
Grades A−B) prior to SRS, and SRS dose >5.3 Gy to the cochlear volume. A parallel
cohort of patients with sporadic VS who received >5.3 Gy to the cochlear volume during
the treatment period 2007−2013 were simultaneously reviewed to provide a control group.
Student's t and chi-square tests were used for analysis of continuous and categorical variables,
respectively.
Results Fifteen non-VS tumors and 43 VS met inclusion criteria. At last audiometric follow-up
(median: 38 years, range: 12−17, and 24 years, range: 6−24, for non-VS and VS tumors,
respectively), serviceable hearing was preserved in 12 non-VS patients (80%; Table
1), versus 23 in the VS control group (Table 1; 80 vs. 56%, p = 0.09; [Fig. 1]). Non-VS tumors with serviceable hearing had received a median cochlear volume dose
of 6.9 Gy (SD ± 4.2, range: 5.7−19.2), as compared with 7.4 Gy (SD ± 1.2, range: 5.4−7.6)
in patients who subsequently developed non-serviceable hearing. Sporadic VS subjects
received a median cochlear modiolar point dose of 6.8 Gy (SD ± 1.5; range: 5.4−11.7).
Non-VS tumors hearing loss remained stable after 8 Gy, while VS patients' hearing
continued to decline.
Conclusion Our data suggest that patients with non-VS lateral skull base neoplasms may respond
differently to comparable cochlear doses after SRS; correspondingly, conclusions or
predictions regarding hearing preservation outcomes extrapolated from studies conducted
on VS patients cannot be freely applied to non-VS tumors. A spectrum of important
but challenging-to-assess factors that go beyond cochlea irradiation likely contribute
to increased radiosensitivity and propensity toward hearing loss in VS patients who
undergo SRS.
Fig. 1