Abstract
A 55-year-old male visited our hospital complaining of right ear fullness from a few days previously. Pure tone audiometry showed right sensorineural hearing loss. On MRI evaluation, a tumor was found in the right internal auditory canal, with intermediate intensity on T1-weighted image, high intensity on T2-weighted image and enhanced by Gadolinium contrast. Moreover, the patient had a history of two recurrent episodes of right facial paralysis. The tumor was diagnosed as a facial nerve neurinoma.
Although in our everyday clinical practice we may encounter many patients complaining of ear fullness owing to sensorineural hearing loss or middle ear disease, there has been no report of a facial nerve neurinoma causing ear fullness. Some hypotheses of the pathogenesis of ear fullness in this case could be put forward as follows:
1) Caused by acute hearing loss on its own.
2) Influence of the affected facial nerve twig on the tympanic plexus of the glossopharyngeal nerve.
3) Influence of the meningeal branch of the vagus nerve occupied by the tumor, that is the general sensory component of the internal auditory canal.
