Trigeminal neuroma diagnosed by CT

Trigeminal neuroma is a rare benign intracranial tumor,which was rarely reported both in our country and abroad.The four cases reported here were detected by CT and proved by operations as well as pathological examinations.The common feature of the CT findings were that:1. the lesion involved both medial and posterior cranial fossae;2.cystic areas were present while eadematous areas around the lesions were absent. In the differentiated diagnosis,meningioma acoustic neuroma,dermoid cyst,glioma etc.ought to be ruled out from trigeminal neuroma. Small tumors of this type were difficult to be detected by conventional roentgenography,while by CT,it is possible to reveal small ones and delineate their extent clearly and exactly.So this modality may be of much help for arranging the therapeutic program and selecting the proper surgical approach.It was found that a complete cure may be expected if the smaller tumor is detected early and resected in time and radically,whereas larger tumors involving adjecent brain tissue extensively can only be resected partially.Thereby the writers censider that CT is a pretty valuable technique in diagnosing trigeminal neuroma.