Sunday, December 6, 2015

Featured Medical Papers on the Study of Schwannomas

Hello all!  It has long been the goal of the Schwannoma Survivors & Schwannoma Fighters group to get easy to understand, accessible information - as well as firsthand stories, about Schwannomas to those who needed it the most.  Often there is a disconnect between the dense knowledge that neurosurgeons have on Schwannomas - and the fact that the general public has almost no comprehension of what they are.  But when I asked our group on Facebook if they would like to read more detailed medical papers on Schwannomas, the vast majority said yes.  So, I decided that the mission of getting easy to understand articles out to people would continue, but that we would also do an occasional feature called a "Featured Medical Paper on Schwannomas."  And I am going to use this blog to archive some of the more interesting medical papers I have found here.

I stress that these papers are essentially the working domain of medical professionals - but in the spirit of learning, it does not mean that all content is inaccessible to the rest of us.  I invite you to read these papers at your leisure, and feel free question your own doctor about them if there is information in the paper that you believe may assist you in dealing with Schwannomas. - Neil


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"First experience of stereotactic radiation therapy for vestibular schwannoma using CyberKnife"

*Note, this article is a summary of results and success rates for Cyber-knife radiation therapy on Vestibular Schwannomas.  This article was originally written in Russian, but this translation is offered and has some interesting insights into the rates in which Cyber Knife treatment can stabilize or reduce the size of Schwannomas.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22629843

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"Schwannoma in Head and Neck: Preoperative Imaging Study and Intracapsular Enucleation for Functional Nerve Preservation"

*Note, this article deals with the surgical method called "Intracapsular Enucleation."  This is a newer method of dealing with particularly problematic Schwannomas, and is becoming a common method of treatment for those with Vagal Schwannomas in particular.  We have published a short blog detailing this procedure, and also one speaking about Dr. Netterville at Vanderbilt University, who is a leader in this kind of surgical treatment.  To read our short blog on this click here

Yonsei Medical Journal


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"Radio surgery of Spinal Meningiomas and Schwannomas"

*Note, we have long sought more accurate information about the rates of successes with the regards to radio surgery when used to treat schwannomas.  There are some interesting stats in this article summary regarding relative success rates - regarding the stoppage of growth or potential shrinkage of tumors via radio surgical treatment.  Well worth a look if you are being advised to seek radio surgery for a schwannoma..


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22181328

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"Spinal Schwannoma; Analysis of 40 Cases"

* Note, this is an extensive, detailed article dealing with a wide range of cases and situations with those suffering from spinal schwannoma.  

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2588243/

Journal of Korean Neurosurgical Society

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"A Literature Review on Surgery for Cervical Vagal Schwannomas"

* A well written overview on many details about Vagal Schwannomas

https://wjso.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12957-015-0541-6

World Journal of Surgical Oncology
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*More papers will be added in the future as we become aware of them