A Rare Case of Melanotic Schwannoma: Utility of Susceptibility Weighted Sequences in Preoperative Imaging

Intracranial schwannomas account for 8% of all intracranial tumors, out of which 90% are acoustic schwannomas. Other rare varieties include trigeminal melanotic schwannomas that account for 0.2% of all intracranial tumors. Melanotic schwannomas are intracranial tumors that are heavily pigmented due to the presence of melanin. The most common origination of the tumor involves being confined to Meckel’s cave, presenting with features of trigeminal neuralgia, neurasthenia, and numbness. We report a case of a 48-year-old male presenting with dysarthria, left-sided hemiparesis, dysphagia, and headache for the past six months. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed a mass in the right cerebellopontine (CP) angle, which extended into the middle cranial fossa. Our case is interesting because it is the fourth case reported worldwide.