Facial nerve damage remains a significant risk during vestibular schwannoma (VS) resection, with reported incidences varying widely (3-46%). Damage risk increases with tumor size. Digital tractography enables nerve reconstruction but typically involves manual procedures, resulting in subjective evaluations that limit reproducibility and validation....

No immediate change to audiological practice; this is a pilot surgical study, but audiologists involved in intraoperative monitoring should be aware of emerging DTI-based facial nerve localization as a complementary tool.

Preserving facial nerve function during vestibular schwannoma surgery is a critical outcome, and DTI-guided localization could reduce rates of post-operative facial palsy if validated in larger trials.

1. 01Pilot study evaluated semi-automatic DTI-based facial nerve localization during large vestibular schwannoma resections.
2. 02