Giant schwannoma of the trigeminal nerve misdiagnosed as maxillary sinusitis. A case report.

: A 24-year-old woman presented with left-sided ptosis, diplopia, sensory impairment on the left side of her face and diminished hearing in her left ear. The neurological findings were hypo-anesthesia in all three divisions of the trigeminal nerve, left-sided facial paralysis of the oculomotor and abducens nerves. Initially the condition was misdiagnosed as maxillary sinusitis and was treated with antibiotics. It seems that this presentation has not been previously described in commonly read English-language journals. In our case, the tumour was removed totally and the neuropathological diagnosis was schwannoma. The case report describes the presentation, investigations, management and outcome in this patient.