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Handheld cellular telephones and risk of acoustic neuroma

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Muscat JE, Malkin MG, Shore RE,. Thompson S, Neugut AL, Stellman SD, Bruce J. · 2002

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Cell phone users showed no increased acoustic neuroma risk, but tumors unexpectedly occurred more on the opposite side from phone use.

Plain English Summary

Summary written for general audiences

Researchers studied whether cell phone use increases the risk of acoustic neuroma, a type of brain tumor that develops near the ear. They compared 90 patients with these tumors to 86 healthy controls and found no increased risk overall. However, among cell phone users who did develop tumors, the tumors appeared more often on the opposite side of the head from where they held their phone, which was unexpected.

Why This Matters

This early 2002 study represents one of the first attempts to examine cell phone radiation's potential link to acoustic neuromas, tumors that develop on the nerve connecting the ear to the brain. While the overall results showed no increased risk, the finding that tumors occurred more frequently on the side opposite to phone use raises important questions about the biological mechanisms at play. The science demonstrates that if RF radiation were directly causing these tumors, you'd expect them to develop on the same side where the phone is held against the head. This counterintuitive finding suggests the relationship between cell phone radiation and brain tumors may be more complex than simple thermal heating effects. What this means for you is that while this study didn't find an overall increased risk, the authors themselves noted that longer observation periods might be needed to detect effects, as brain tumors can take decades to develop.

Exposure Information

Specific exposure levels were not quantified in this study.

Study Details

To study Handheld cellular telephones and risk of acoustic neuroma

The hypothesis that intracranial energy deposition from handheld cellular telephones causes acoustic...

The relative risk was 0.9 (p = 0.07) and did not vary significantly by the frequency, duration, and ...

Cite This Study
Muscat JE, Malkin MG, Shore RE,. Thompson S, Neugut AL, Stellman SD, Bruce J. (2002). Handheld cellular telephones and risk of acoustic neuroma Neurology 58:1304-1306, 2002.
Show BibTeX
@article{je_2002_handheld_cellular_telephones_and_2453,
  author = {Muscat JE and  Malkin MG and  Shore RE and. Thompson S and Neugut AL and Stellman SD and  Bruce J.  },
  title = {Handheld cellular telephones and risk of acoustic neuroma},
  year = {2002},
  
  url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11971109/},
}
PubMed: 11971109

Cited By (137 papers)

View all 137 citing papers on Semantic Scholar

Quick Questions About This Study

A 2002 study found the opposite pattern. Among cell phone users who developed acoustic neuromas, the tumors appeared more often on the side of the head opposite from where they held their phone, which researchers found unexpected and puzzling.
Research comparing 90 acoustic neuroma patients to 86 healthy controls found no increased risk from handheld cell phone use. The relative risk was 0.9, indicating slightly lower risk, though this wasn't statistically significant.
Researchers don't know why acoustic neuromas in cell phone users occurred more often contralateral (opposite side) rather than ipsilateral (same side) as phone use. This unexpected finding suggests the relationship between phones and these ear tumors is complex.
The 2002 Muscat study found acoustic neuroma risk didn't vary significantly based on frequency, duration, or lifetime hours of cell phone use. Even heavy users showed no increased risk for these ear-area brain tumors.
Researchers suggest focusing on potentially longer induction periods for acoustic neuroma development from cell phone use. The 2002 study may not have captured effects that take decades to appear after initial exposure begins.