Given the presence of a pathological immune response in sporadic vestibular schwannoma (sVS), this study aims to explore the roles of aspirin in minimizing sVS growth in vivo.
Retrospective case review.
Tertiary care hospital.
People diagnosed with sVS and followed at a tertiary referral center by serial magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for at least 4 months within the period of January 1980 through April 2012.
Patient use of aspirin and sVS growth rate measured by changes in the largest tumor dimension as noted on serial MRIs
Within a set of 689 cases, 347 were followed by serial MRI scans (50.3%); of the latter, 81 took aspirin, of which, 33 demonstrated sVS growth, and 48 did not. Of the 266 nonaspirin users, 154 demonstrated sVS growth, and 112 did not. A significant inverse association was found among aspirin users and sVS growth (odds ratio [OR]: 0.50, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.29–0.85), which was not confounded by age or sex.
Our results suggest a potential therapeutic role of aspirin in inhibiting sVS growth.
*Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, Boston; †Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School, Boston; ‡Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology, Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge; and §Biostatistics Center, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A.
Address correspondence and reprint requests to Konstantina Stankovic, M.D., Ph.D., Department of Otolaryngology, Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, 243 Charles Street, Boston, MA 02114; E-mail: konstantina_stankovic@meei.harvard.edu
This study was supported by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders Grant Nos. T32 DC00038 (to S. D.) and K08DC010419 (to K. M. S.) and the Bertarelli Foundation (to K. M. S.).
The authors disclose no conflicts of interest.
