Vestibular schwannoma appears to be very rare in a region of Sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND: Vestibular schwannoma (VS) is a significant neurosurgical problem hence it enjoys a special attention at conferences and workshops. It accounts for about 8–10% of all intracranial tumors with an annual incidence of about 11–14 per million per year. Most VS are sporadic with 5–10% attributed to neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). However, VS is alleged to be rare in Africans and uncommon in African Americans, connoting a racial bias. To our knowledge, no study from sub-Saharan Africa has addressed this subject. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of VS in a tertiary neurosurgical hospital in sub-Saharan Africa. METHODS: This is a retrospective study of all intracranial neoplasms and VS managed in a major tertiary hospital in sub-Saharan Africa from January 2003 to December 2015. Patients’ records and neuroimaging studies were reviewed retrospectively. Additionally, database of all cranial computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) done for various indications within the same period was searched retrospectively for “incidental” VS cases. RESULTS: Over the study period of 13 years, out of 612 cases of intracranial neoplasms, only three (0.49%) were VSs (two sporadic, one bilateral VS in NF2). A search for “incidental” cases of VS from a pool of 7475 cranial scans (CT: 5290; MRI: 2185), yielded none. CONCLUSIONS: The findings strongly suggest that VS is very rare in the study population. It is hoped that other centers in Africa and beyond would perform similar studies.