During a 5-year period from 1984 to 1988, we treated five patients with vagal neurilemmoma in the neck, three males and two females with a chief complaint of a cervical mass. Diagnosis was based on ultrasound examination, enhanced CT and 67Ga scintigraphy. Neurilemmoma originating from the vagus nerve was confirmed by operation and by histopathological examination. In three of the five patients the vagus nerve was divided during surgery. In one patient, the tumor was removed, and most of the vagus nerve was preserved. This patient developed paralysis of the vocal cord on the affected side. In the fifth patient, the tumor removed, and the vagus nerve was preserved. This patient did not develop paralysis of the vocal cord after operation. These results and the knowledge that the function of the vagus nerve is unlikely to recover after division, even with end-to-end anastomosis or nerve grafting, indicate that it is necessary to preserve the vagus nerve during surgical removal of vagal neurilemmoma in the neck.
