TODAY, in contrast to former years, the diagnosis of acoustic tumor is being made in the early stages of its growth. There is no question that postoperative morbidity and mortality can be reduced with early diagnosis and instigation of treatment. In spite of the early recognition and treatment of these tumors, catastrophes still occur as a direct result of surgical intervention. These unfortunate results may be an aftermath of surgical attack on even the smaller tumors. The purpose of this discussion is to report some of the difficulties which we have experienced in operating on patients with acoustic tumors. We will demonstrate the relationship of these difficulties to disturbances of the cardiorespiratory centers in the brain. It is our opinion that many of the problems encountered during the surgical removal of these tumors, as well as much of the morbidity and mortality following surgery, are due to a compromise of