Neurilemomas of the vagus nerve in the neck.

Neoplasms of the peripheral nerves are rather common, but tumors involving either the sheath or ganglion of the vagus nerve in the neck are so rare that each case is worthy of record. The well-known neurofibromas of Recklinghausen's disease have been found to arise from the vagus nerve in both the cervical and the thoracic region. But another, different, specific tumor has been found in the cervical vagus, distinct from the classical neurofibroma. This specific well-differentiated tumor, which develops within the nerve sheath, was first described histologically by Verocay in 19081and called by him "neurinoma" in a report in 1910.2Since then, the names perineurial fibroblastoma,3schwannoma, neurilemoma,4peripheral glioma, and neurilemnoma5have been used frequently. Histogenesis The long controversy over the exact histogenesis of these tumors has produced this varied terminology. One group of investigators, led by Penfield,6contends that the tumor