Cincinnati to host national acoustic neuroma symposium for patients

Mayfield Clinic, UC Brain Tumor Center among co-sponsors;

Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory Proclaims “Acoustic Neuroma Awareness Days”

CINCINNATI – The Mayfield Clinic and the Brain Tumor Center at the University of Cincinnati Neuroscience Institute (UCNI) will play a leading role in the National Symposium of the Acoustic Neuroma Association (ANA), to be held at the Cincinnati Hilton Netherland Plaza, June 17-19, 2011.

Mayfield and the UC Brain Tumor Center are serving as official sponsors, along with three academic departments of the UC College of Medicine: Neurosurgery, Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, and Radiation Oncology.

Serving as co-hosts are John M. Tew, MD, Mayfield Clinic Neurosurgeon and Co-Chair of the Acoustic Neuroma Association’s Medical Advisory Board; Philip Theodosopoulos, MD, Mayfield neurosurgeon and member of the ANA’s Medical Advisory Board; and Myles Pensak, MD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Otolaryngology at UC. All three surgeons are members of the UC Brain Tumor Center.

The Acoustic Neuroma Association’s 20th annual symposium will mark the organization’s 30th anniversary. It will include educational lectures, workshops, and panel discussions about acoustic neuroma, a benign, slow-growing brain tumor that develops on a nerve that leads from the brain to the inner ear.

The 30th anniversary banquet dinner will include an awards ceremony and remarks from Ginny Fickel Ehr, who founded the ANA in 1981 following the removal of a large acoustic neuroma. The non-profit ANA has a membership of nearly 5,000.

In anticipation of the event, Cincinnati Mayor Mark Mallory signed a proclamation declaring June 13-19, 2011 as “Acoustic Neuroma Awareness Days in Cincinnati.” The proclamation noted that efforts to ease the burden of acoustic neuroma, which affects nearly 2 people in 100,000, are shared by an array of dedicated institutions in Cincinnati as well as by the ANA.

“Today, in the world of social media, patients are building relationships, seeking information and taking responsibility for their health -- which is what ANA and its local support groups have been doing for many years,” Dr. Tew said. “It is important for physicians to take the opportunity to participate in such groups, because building trust and measuring outcomes is a vital link between patients, families and their physicians. In the 30-year experience of the ANA, its dedication to the support of patients, education and patient-driven research is a model for all to emulate."

Treatments for acoustic neuroma include microsurgery, radiosurgery, and a vigilant approach known as “watch and wait.” Typical symptoms include hearing loss, balance problems, tinnitus (ringing in the ear), and a feeling of fullness in the ear.

For more information about the ANA or the symposium, please visit www.ANAUSA.org.