Postoperative precautions for patients with auditory neuroma or tumors in the pontocerebellar horn region

  1. Postoperative symptoms and complications: 1. Headache, dizziness and unstable walking: headache, dizziness and unstable walking may occur in different degrees after surgery, which are normal postoperative reactions and are usually completely relieved within 1~2 months after surgery.  2. Facial palsy: Mostly occurs after hearing neuroma surgery. Depending on the degree of injury, different degrees of facial palsy may occur after surgery, manifesting as incomplete eyelid closure, crooked corners of the mouth, cheek puffing, etc., especially in the early postoperative period, which is more obvious, and those with mild symptoms can generally recover completely in a few days or weeks after surgery, while those with severe symptoms generally need about 3 months to 6 months to be relieved. In severe cases, it usually takes about 3 months to 6 months to resolve. If the facial palsy is complete, a second-stage surgery is required for nerve repair. For postoperative eyelid closure, postoperative eye drops are required to protect the cornea until function is restored. For those whose eyelids cannot be closed at all, temporary or permanent suturing of the eyelids may be required to protect the cornea if necessary.  Hearing loss and tinnitus: Hearing loss or tinnitus may persist on the affected side after surgery. For patients with complete preservation of the auditory nerve, most of the hearing can be gradually restored after surgery.  4. Restriction of eye abduction or diplopia: This is due to abducens nerve palsy, which can be recovered after a few weeks or months without special medication.  5, trigeminal nerve palsy: manifested as the affected side of the head and facial skin and tongue, mouth sensory loss, bite weakness, chewing difficulties, open mouth jaw deviation to the affected side, etc., mostly due to intraoperative stretching of the trigeminal nerve, can be oral methylcobalamin tablets to assist in treatment, generally after a few weeks can gradually alleviate.  6, posterior group cranial nerve dysfunction: manifested as choking on water, swallowing difficulties, hoarseness, coughing weakness, etc., because the posterior group cranial nerve is mostly preserved intact, so most of them can be gradually relieved within weeks to months after surgery, no special drug treatment is needed, it is necessary to pay attention to slow drinking when eating and drinking to prevent food or water from choking into the lungs, for patients with a lot of sputum should encourage patients to cough more sputum to prevent lung infection.  7. Cerebrospinal fluid leakage: If the postoperative incision shows obvious local swelling, obvious fluctuating sensation on pressure, subcutaneous fluid accumulation and fever, or continuous flow of colorless and transparent fluid from the external ear canal, cerebrospinal fluid leakage may occur, and it is necessary to follow up with the hospital as soon as possible and ask the specialist to guide further treatment, and if necessary, secondary surgical repair is required.  2. Life precautions 1. It is advisable to eat easily digestible food for 1 month after surgery, avoid eating too cold or too spicy food, and avoid smoking and alcohol.  2. Rest for at least 1 month after surgery, recuperate in a quiet environment, avoid strong mental labor and prohibit strenuous exercise.