Case of the Week
Section Editors: Matylda Machnowska1 and Anvita Pauranik2
1University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
2BC Children's Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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July 6, 2009
External Auditory Canal Cholesteatoma
- Cholesteatoma is a lesion formed from keratinizing stratified squamous epithelium.
- Extradurally, cholesteatoma most commonly involves the middle ear cleft but can occur in all portions of the petrous bone including the mastoid, petrous apex, and external auditory canal. Estimated incidence of external auditory canal cholesteatoma is 0.1'0.5% of all otologic patients.
- It appears as a soft tissue mass filling a portion of the canal with localized smooth or irregular bony erosion adjacent to the mass. It may also exhibit extension into the middle ear, mastoid, facial nerve canal, or the tegmen tympani.
- Differential diagnosis: keratosis obturans, postinflammatory medial canal fibrosis, and necrotizing (malignant) otitis externa.
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