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UT Southwestern Medical Center has established one of the leading acoustic neuroma programs in the United States. We are nationally recognized for the expert care our specialists provide to evaluate and treat both adults and children.
As a primary referral center for acoustic neuromas (also called vestibular schwannomas), we offer a comprehensive range of personalized, leading-edge treatment options – from observation of tumors to advanced radiosurgery and expert surgical care. Our team treats about 200 new patients each year. We follow hundreds more to provide ongoing care.
At UT Southwestern, one of our goals is to be at the forefront of medicine and technology to help patients. This supports our ability to achieve outstanding results, including helping patients with acoustic neuromas maintain quality of life and preserve hearing.
The UT Southwestern acoustic neuroma team sees patients promptly. This includes same- and next-day appointments when possible, as well as options for telehealth visits.
While acoustic neuromas are rare and usually benign, they can be serious and can cause hearing loss. Treating the tumors can be complex because of the close proximity of critical blood vessels and nerves. This is where UT Southwestern’s Acoustic Neuroma program excels. Our surgeons are guest lecturers throughout the world, providing information on advances in treating acoustic neuromas and how results and be improved for patients.
Research shows experienced programs like ours — those that see larger numbers of patients with acoustic neuromas — achieve better results than lower-volume centers. At UT Southwestern, more than 200 patients a year rely on our specialists for care. As one of the highest-volume centers in the country, our goal is to leverage the expertise of internationally recognized leaders in treating acoustic neuroma to provide advanced, multidisciplinary care that is tailored to each patient.
Our doctors are fellowship-trained in the advanced treatment of acoustic neuromas. They lead our multidisciplinary approach to care for these tumors. The care team includes:
Our team of surgeons, medical doctors, radiation oncologists, radiologists, and other care team members holds monthly conferences. At these conferences, individual cases are evaluated and reviewed, and care plans are formulated jointly among specialists. Input from this team is based on the extensive clinical experience of UT Southwestern’s physicians and the latest published treatment recommendations.
Our specialists work closely with each patient and their family to design a personalized treatment plan that not only takes into account tumor location and size, but also the patient’s personal goals and other life factors.
Having patients informed about and actively engaged in discussing treatment options is key to our approach to care. When determining appropriate care plans, our physicians consider:
Treatment options that our UT Southwestern Acoustic Neuroma Program offers include:
Some patients, particularly those with smaller, slow-growing tumors, don’t require immediate treatment. We may recommend monitoring these cases. With this watch-and-wait approach, our physicians use advanced imaging to look for changes that could signal the need for additional treatment.
Gamma Knife radiosurgery is a noninvasive, precisely focused dose of radiation that targets a tumor with the goal of stopping its growth. Key advantages of radiosurgery for patients include minimal recovery time and preserving quality of life. It is performed on an outpatient basis. Many of our patients have no symptoms immediately after having this procedure.
Microsurgical resection techniques let us safely remove the tumor while preserving facial nerve function whenever possible. This option is best for patients with larger or more complex tumors, as well as those with smaller tumors where preserving hearing is possible.
The acoustic neuroma team at UT Southwestern is skilled in the full range of approaches to surgical removal of tumors based on size, location, and other patient characteristics. UT Southwestern is the only medical center in Texas — and one of just two in the U.S. — to offer invisible acoustic neuroma surgery (transpromontorial approach), an innovative, minimally invasive procedure to remove these noncancerous tumors through a tiny incision in the ear canal.
There are three surgical approaches available at UT Southwestern to remove acoustic neuromas:
Lloyd Griffith relished the noise that comes from a love of fixing cars and racing until the day a tumor in his ear caused his hearing to go from garbled to silent. Today his hearing is much improved, thanks to a pioneering minimally invasive procedure at UT Southwestern Medical Center – one of the highest-volume acoustic neuroma programs in Texas.
The natural course of an untreated acoustic neuroma is hearing loss in the affected ear. Surgery or radiosurgery can also result in hearing loss. Many patients adjust well to hearing in only one ear. Other patients may want to consider a few options, including wearing a:
In selective cases, we also employ cochlear implantation for some patients with a vestibular schwannoma. This may be in combination with tumor surgery or after radiosurgery.
UT Southwestern offers additional care for both adult and pediatric acoustic neuroma patients who experience hearing loss.
An acoustic neuroma is a benign (nonmalignant) tumor that originates on the nerves affecting hearing or balance. These nerves are located deep in the skull and are very close to other important nerves and blood vessels. Patients with acoustic neuromas can experience a range of symptoms, including hearing loss, ringing in the ear, problems with balance, headaches, facial numbness, or facial weakness.
Acoustic neuromas are more common in people who are in their 40s or 50s, but can be seen in children as well, although those cases are rare. Acoustic neuromas in children may be the result of neurofibromatosis type 2-related schwannomatosis (NF2) or other genetic disorders. Our UT Southwestern Acoustic Neuroma Program is experienced in treating these types of tumors.
If you have an upcoming appointment that is eligible to transition to a video visit, we recommend patients sign up with MyChart. Virtual visits can accomplish a variety of appointment objectives, such as a comprehensive history examination, updating medications, and discussing symptoms.
Virtual visits are a safe and convenient way to get access to a broad spectrum of UT Southwestern specialists. These specialists are the same ones you would see if you came into the clinic, but you will be in the comfort of your own home, which allows you to continue the self-isolation recommendations while keeping yourself and the community safe.
If you don’t have the necessary technology for a video visit, your provider may consider conducting a phone appointment. For an appointment, please call 214-645-8898.
UT Southwestern conducts clinical trials aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of brain conditions such as acoustic neuromas. Talk with our doctors to see if a clinical trial is available.
Search for opportunities to participate in a hearing or ear-related research study.
We’re one of the world’s top academic medical centers, with a unique legacy of innovation in patient care and scientific discovery.
