Benign schwannoma

What it is

A rare benign peripheral nerve sheath tumor characterized by a usually encapsulated space-occupying lesion composed of differentiated neoplastic Schwann cells. It most commonly arises from peripheral nerves in the head and neck region and extensor aspects of the extremities, but also from spinal and cranial nerves, especially the vestibular nerve. The tumor may be asymptomatic or cause symptoms related to a mass effect. It grows slowly and only rarely undergoes malignant transformation.

Key facts

Prevalence

1-9 / 100 000 (Europe)

Age of onset

Adult, Elderly

Inheritance

Not applicable

Classified as

Disease

Prevalence figures describe populations, not individuals, and are often estimates from a single study. Where the figure is an incidence or a birth prevalence, it says so.

Signs and symptoms

These ranges are how often a sign appears across everyone diagnosed, not a prediction for one person — most people have some of these and not others. Orphanet also records findings that are specifically absent in this disease; those are in the data but not listed here.

ICD-10 codes

ICD-10 has no distinct code for most rare diseases, so many are filed under the nearest available one. A shared code identifies the group, not this disease — the ORPHAcode above is what identifies it.

Related health topics

Reached through the ICD-10 categories this disease is filed under, so these describe the broader group rather than this disease specifically.

Cross-references