• BACKGROUND
    • Delicate enucleation of neurilemmoma preserves most of nerve fascicles and causes minimal nerve function impairment. Accurate preoperative diagnosis of neurilemmoma is based on clinical findings and image studies.
  • MATERIALS AND METHODS
    • Between November 2003 and February 2013, operations for the treatment of neurilemmoma were performed on 14 patients (12 men and 2 women) at our institution. The image studies in this series were collected. The tumor mass was approached by splitting the epineurium. In a few cases, enucleation of the neurilemmoma caused some fascicles loss, but reconstruction with sural nerve grafts preserved nerve function.
  • RESULTS
    • Before surgery, 7 patients received computed tomographic scan, 4 patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging, and 3 patients received sonography. Six patients presented with motor or sensory deficits immediately after tumor enucleation. Three patients recovered completely from the neurological defects with or without nerve reconstruction.
  • CONCLUSIONS
    • Our results indicate that neurilemmoma can be removed by delicate enucleation with an acceptable risk of injury to the nerve trunk.