Abstract
It is relatively rare that schwannomas arise in the vagal trunk of the neck or brachial plexus. This paper presents a case of heterochronous schwannomas arising in the left vagal trunk of the neck and brachial plexus. A 52-year-old woman was seen at the hospital because of enlarging left subclavicular tumor with a spontaneous pain, which was noticed 5 years before. There was a history of undergoing enucleation of a schwannoma which occurred in the left left vagus nerve on the neck 17 years earlier. On palpation the tumor was elastic hard and hen's egg-sized. CT, ultrasonography, and needle aspiration biopsy revealed that the tumor was a schwqnnoma of the left brachial plexus. Tumorectomy (intracapsular shelling out) was performed under general anesthesia. Postoperative examination revealed no further neurological deficit of the left upper extremity. Tumorectomy of the schwannoma from the brachial plexus can cause postoperative neurological deficit of the upper extremity. So it seems better to enucleate intracapsularly for thepostoperative quality of life.
