Schwannoma of the upper extremity

The study was undertaken to review 22 patients with schwannoma in the upper extremity. Fourteen patients noticed some clinical symptoms such as pain, numbness or Tinel's sign, whereas a lump was only manifestation of the tumor in 8 patients. It was not difficult to obtain preoperatively the diagnosis of schwannoma via clinical symptoms and modern imaging modality such as MRI. The average follow-up period after operation was 29 months, and satisfactory results were obtained in all patients without any recurrence of the tumor. Functional disability was never encountered in any patients, although 6 patients had mild neurological deficit, all of which located in the median nerve distribution. (author)