Intracisternal spinal accessory nerve schwannoma

Abstract

On the basis of anatomic location, intracranial schwannomas of the accessory nerve can be divided into 2 types. One is a jugular type arising from the accessory nerve at the jugular foramen. whereas the other is an intracisternal type, which arises from the spinal root of accessory nerve. The latter type is rare. We report a schwannoma of the spinal accessory nerve with right sternocleidomastoid muscle atrophy arising in the cisterna magna with extension to foramen magnum and also compressing the medulla oblongata.