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Malignant transformation of vestibular schwannoma following radiosurgery—a case report and review of the literature

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Abstract

Malignant transformation of vestibular schwannoma (VS) post-radiosurgery is an extremely rare but life-threatening complication. We present a patient who underwent two surgeries for a benign VS and received Gamma Knife radiosurgery for residual tumour. Five and a half years post-radiosurgery, the patient was reoperated for symptomatic recurrence of the tumour. Histopathology confirmed the diagnosis of a high-grade spindle cell sarcoma. Although near-total resection was uneventful, the patient deteriorated rapidly, and comfort care was chosen. This report is the 13th documented case of histopathologically confirmed malignant transformation of a benign VS that strictly meets the modified Cahan’s criteria, suggesting the direct link to radiosurgery-induced malignancy.

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The data that support the findings of this study are all included in the manuscript and corresponding tables and references.

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Not applicable as no codes were used in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurosurgery & Gamma Knife Surgery, P D Hinduja National Hospital & Medical Research Centre, Veer Savarkar Marg, Mumbai, India

    Arthur Hosmann, Vatsal Kamdar & Basant K Misra

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Arthur Hosmann

Authors
  1. Arthur Hosmann
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  2. Vatsal Kamdar
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  3. Basant K Misra
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Contributions

Hosmann Arthur: conception and design; acquisition of data; analysis and interpretation of data; statistical analysis; drafting the article; final approval of the manuscript. Vatsal Kamdar: acquisition of data; critical revising of the manuscript; final approval of the manuscript. Basant K Misra: conception and design; administrative/technical/material support; study supervision; critical revising of the manuscript; final approval of the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Basant K Misra.

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According to the institutional ethics committee of the P.D. Hinduja Hospital and Medical Research Centre, no ethical approval is required for case reports.

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For this retrospective case report, informed consent of the patient is not required.

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Not applicable as all personal information are anonymized and the submission does not include images that may identify patients.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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This case report adheres to the CARE guidelines.

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Hosmann, A., Kamdar, V. & Misra, B.K. Malignant transformation of vestibular schwannoma following radiosurgery—a case report and review of the literature. Acta Neurochir 166, 52 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00701-024-05921-6

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