MedClinic > Blog > Neurosurgery > Neurinoma

Neurinoma is a benign neoplasm that affects the soft tissue of the brain. 

 Neurinoma can be described as round, dense, located in a capsule.

Causes of development

Neurinoma can occur if there are the following factors:

  • radiation exposure at a young age;
  • prolonged contact with hazardous, toxic substances;
  • the development of neurofibromatosis;
  • hereditary factor;
  • the presence of neoplasms of other internal organs.

The greatest risk of developing neurinoma is posed in people with a genetic predisposition. If a father or a mother has a neurinoma, the likelihood of pathology in the child is 50%.

Clinical manifestations

The symptomatic picture in the presence of a tumor is based on the place of its localization. Symptoms of neurinoma  of:

  • Brain neurinoma – a spinal neoplasm affects the limbs, disrupts the activity of the gastrointestinal tract and genitourinary organs.
  • Auditory nerve neuroma: a hum in the ears, auditory function, frequent dizziness, and coordination are impaired.
  • Trigeminal neuroma: unpleasant, painful sensations in the jaw, pain syndrome is gradually increasing.
  • Neuroma of the spine: a feeling of cold in the body, a feeling of numbness, goosebumps. The work of the heart muscle is disrupted, the blood pressure rises, bradycardia develops. If the tumor develops in the lower part of the spine, the person experiences difficulties in the process of defecation, cannot control the activities of urination. Erectile dysfunction occurs. Dysfunctions of vegetative nature are expressed in excessive sweating, the skin becomes red, or, conversely, too pale.

Treatment methods

The main method for diagnosing neurinoma is MRI. Treatment of neurinoma is not performed if the tumor is small and if data from medical examination indicates the absence of its growth. An operation is also not performed for neurinoma due to the proximity of the tumor to vital internal organs.

If the tumor is slowly but still growing in size, radiotherapy is used as an alternative to surgery. This technique is prescribed if the patient has severe diseases – diabetes, pathologies and defects of the cardiovascular system, kidney dysfunction.

What is radiotherapy? This is a way of influencing pathogenic tumor cells with gamma and beta x-rays. Before carrying out the procedure, it is necessary to accurately identify the location of the tumor in order to minimize the irradiation of healthy tissues.

The patient is fixated so that he/she does not move, the beam is sent exactly to the location of the focus. Rays have different shapes. The dose of radiation is selected in accordance with the density of the tumor in order to destroy as many cancer cells as possible. This method of treating cancers is not traumatic, there is no risk of complications.

Radiosurgery is a minimally invasive method for removing neurinomas, for which a special gamma and cyberknife, a medical linear and proton accelerator are used.

Tumor treatment with a linear accelerator is carried out the following way: the patient lies on a couch, which is constantly moving under x-rays. The duration of this procedure is 30 minutes – 2 hours.

Therapy of a cancerous tumor with a proton accelerator is carried out the following way: a beam of rays is sent to the tumor that destroys pathogenic cells. The patient is placed on a couch, designed individually for him/her.

In the treatment of neurinoma of the auditory nerve, in addition to radiotherapy, symptomatic medication therapy is prescribed.