Cerebellopontine angle paraganglioma.

Background: Acoustic neuroma account for 80% of cerebellopontine angle tumors. Paraganglioma is a rare tumor in this region.

Objective: The authors report a case of cerebellopontine angle paraganglioma arising from the anterior inferior cerebellar artery.

Results: The clinical and radiologic features were indistinguishable from those of a neuroma, and only the intraoperative view showed a vascular tumor. Definitive diagnosis was made by histopathologic methods.

Conclusions: This unique paraganglioma location may be explained by existing embryologic data. The minimal retrosigmoid approach, assisted by endoscopy, allows safe and complete removal of the tumor.