Quantifying Tertiary Referral Center Bias in Vestibular Schwannoma Research

The objective of the current study was to characterize tertiary referral center bias in VS research. Study design: Single-institution retrospective clinical, audiometric, and radiologic review. Setting: One tertiary referral center. Patients: One hundred twenty-three patients with sporadic VS treated at our institution, consisting of a local cohort of all 41 VS patients residing in the same US county as our medical center and a referral cohort of 82 patients from outside counties matched 2:1 based on age, sex, and year of diagnosis. Intervention: Surgical resection, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), observation. Main outcome measures: Clinical manifestations, audiometric and radiologic findings, elected treatment modality. Results: Local patients had significantly longer follow-up after initial presentation compared to referral patients (median 4.0 vs 2.2 yr; p = 0.007). Referral patients were significantly less likely to have an incidental VS diagnosis (1% vs. 29%; p 
Source: Otology and Neurotology - Category: ENT & OMF Tags: TUMORS OF THE EAR AND CRANIAL BASE Source Type: research