Intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma: a report of five cases and an analysis of MR imaging results.

Abstract

We present five cases of intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma. In four of the five cases, tumors arising from the main facial nerve trunk were centered just below the skull base near the stylomastoid foramen and had a small cranial extension into the lower facial nerve canal. In three cases, each tumor had higher signal intensity around the periphery on T2-weighted images (target sign). These findings may be highly suggestive of an intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma.