Cervical sympathetic chain schwannomas: Patient characteristics & treatment options

Less invasive treatment options for cervical sympathetic chain schwannomas warrant consideration, given that the typical CSCS patient is young and asymptomatic, and the likelihood of persistent morbidity is high with standard surgical approaches, according to a study published in Otolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery.

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Researchers examined 156 articles, of which 51 representing 89 CSCS cases were evaluated in detail. The cases were mostly international.

 

On average patients were 42.6 years old and nearly 70 percent of cases were asymptomatic at presentation. Presurgical diagnosis relied on CT, MRI or both, supplemented by cytology, which was nearly always inconclusive.

 

The study found that presurgical diagnosis was challenging, with only 11 percent confirming accuracy postsurgically. Irrespective mass size, extracapsular resection was the most frequently performed surgical procedure, as it was performed for 87.6 percent of the cases. Adverse events persisted in 82.3 percent of cases at an average of 30 months follow-up time. Common postsurgical events includes Horner’s syndrome, first bite syndrome of both.

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