Success rates, although limited in data, appear to be in the low to mid ninety percent range. As most schwannomas are benign, many doctors will take the “watch and wait” approach and leave the tumors alone until they start causing harmful side effects. Schwannomatosis patients have multiple tumors and the risks of having so many surgeries outweigh the benefits. Prognosis
Many of the symptoms of schwannomatosis overlap with NF2. Schwannomas occur instead of the neurofibromas that are hallmarks of neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1). Multiple schwannomas manifest throughout the body or in isolated regions. The schwannomas develop on cranial, spinal and peripheral nerves. Chronic pain, and sometimes numbness, tingling and weakness. About 1/3 of patients have segmental schwannomatosis, which means that the schwannomas are limited to a single part of the body, such as an arm, a leg or the spine. There are several cases where people with schwannomatosis have developed a vestibular schwannoma (acoustic neuroma). An acoustic neuroma is a schwannoma on the vestibular nerve in the brain. This nerve is involved in hearing and patients with vestibular schwannomas experience hearing loss. However, bilateral vestibular schwannomas (vestibular schwannomas on both sides of the brain) do not occur in schwannomatosis. Juvenile vestibular tumors do not occur either. Patients with schwannomatosis do not have learning disabilities related to the disease. Symptoms are sometimes brought on by hormonal changes such as puberty and pregnancy. == References ==
Macrocephaly is a condition in which circumference of the human head is abnormally large. It may be pathological or harmless, and can be a familial genetic characteristic. People diagnosed with macrocephaly will receive further medical tests to determine whether the syndrome is accompanied by particular disorders. Those with benign or familial macrocephaly are considered to have megalencephaly. Causes
Many people with abnormally large heads or large skulls are healthy, but macrocephaly may be pathological. Pathologic macrocephaly may be due to megalencephaly (enlarged brain), hydrocephalus (abnormally increased cerebrospinal fluid), cranial hyperostosis (bone overgrowth), and other conditions. Pathologic macrocephaly is called "syndromic", when it is associated with any other noteworthy condition, and "nonsyndromic" otherwise.