Clinical Experience With Leksell Gamma Knife In The Treatment Of Trigeminal Schwannomas

Trigeminal nerve schwannomas, which are rare, slowly growing, benign tumors, account for 0.2% to 1.0% of all intracranial tumors and 0.8% to 8.0% of intracranial schwannomas.~(1-5) These tumors are treated surgically.~(1-4) The development of microsurgery and skull base surgery has made complete resection possible in most patients. Nevertheless, cranial nerve sequelae appear after complete resection of these tumors because they are located close to the cavernous sinus and usually adhere to the vital vascular and neural structures. As an alternative to microsurgical resection, Leksell gamma knife (LGK) radiosurgery has been performed for patients with intracranial schwannomas to minimize the treatment-related morbidity and achieve a long-term control of tumor growth.~(6,7) In this report, we describe our 6-year experience in the treatment of 38 patients with trigeminal schwannomas by LGK.