Aberrant internal carotid artery in the temporal bone: imaging findings and management.

Objectives: To describe the clinical and radiological features of the vascular anomaly aberrant internal carotid artery (ICA) in the temporal bone and to discuss management strategies.

Design: Retrospective study.

Patients: Sixteen cases of aberrant ICA were diagnosed between 1982 and 2003.

Sudden sensorineural hearing loss as a revealing symptom of vestibular schwannoma.

Conclusions: Sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSHL) is a frequent symptom of vestibular schwannoma (VS), often reveals small VSs and does not exhibit specific features. Therefore, every case of SSHL should be evaluated using systematic MRI to rule out VS in order to improve hearing and preservation facial nerve function.

Objective: SSHL leads to the discovery of a VS in a small proportion of cases (2%).