Schwannomas of the eighth cranial nerve are benign tumours commonly found in the internal auditory meatus or in the cerebellopontine angle. In most cases, they arise from the inferior or vestibular portion of the vestibular nerve. Rarely, these tumours present in the inner ear and are then called intralabyrinthine schwannomas. Bilateral schwannomas are known in neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). Bilateral and ipsilateral, multilocular sporadic schwannomas of the eighth cranial nerve have been described as extremely rare findings. This report describes the first case of bilateral sporadic intracochlear schwannomas in a patient with no genetic or clinical features of NF2.
Keywords: Acoustic neuroma; Intracochlear schwannoma; Intralabyrinthine schwannoma; Sensorineural hearing loss; Vestibular schwannoma.