Intratemporal sarcoma of the facial nerve.

Abstract

Tumors of the nerves can, according to Gagel, 1 be divided into two main groups: (1) tumors consisting entirely of ectodermal tissue or of both ectodermal and mesodermal tissue, and (2) tumors of mesodermal origin. Each of these main groups are divided into several subgroups, as described in detail by Gagel 1 and Busch and Christensen. 2 To the first of the two main groups the neurinomas belong; to the second, the sarcomas. The neurinomas arise from the cells of the sheath of Schwann and are composed partly of Schwann cells, partly of connective tissue; they do not contain true neural tissue Antoni, 3 Verocay 4 ). The tumors are benign, grow by expansion and may arise from the peripheral as well as from the cranial nerves, among the latter, particularly the acoustic nerve. The term neurogenous may seem self-contradictory, so far as the nerve itself is of ectodermal origin and the sarcoma of