Reporting standard compliance in publications of vestibular schwannoma patients treated with microsurgery

BACKGROUND: In 2003, Kanzaki and colleagues published a set of reporting standards for vestibular schwannoma (VS) to serve as a guide for future publication, with the specific purpose of promoting standardization of reporting results in VS. OBJECTIVE: Here, the current published body of literature on VS cases treated with microsurgery was reviewed to determine its degree of adherence to consensus guidelines. METHODS: A comprehensive search of the English language literature was performed to identify studies reporting outcome data in patients treated with microsurgery for VSs. Each publication was reviewed to determine whether it had properly reported each of the 7 items relevant to surgical management described in the Consensus Meeting reporting guidelines. The number of studies that had included each of the key items before and after the publication of the reporting guidelines was compared. RESULTS: After the publication of the standards, there were a significantly greater proportion of studies that properly reported the nature of the tumor and facial nerve function. Since the publication of the Consensus Meeting Guidelines, there also were trends toward greater proportions of articles that properly reported the size, hearing function, preoperative symptoms, and postoperative complications of the patients treated. CONCLUSION: Since the release of the reporting system guidelines for VS, the focus of the publications seems to have shifted away from basic clinical characteristics and toward posttreatment neurologic function. Future studies reporting the clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes for patients with VS cases should strive to include all the elements described in the Consensus Meeting guidelines.