Mastoid Abscess: A Rare Presentation of External Auditory Canal Carcinoma

Abstract

Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the temporal bone and external auditory canal is a very rare tumor with a reported incidence of between 1 to 6 cases per million per year. SCC of the temporal bone and external auditory canal is very rare, an adequate tumor staging system and treatment has been difficult to develop because of limited number of cases reporting to any clinical centre. Usual presentation of a carcinoma of temporal bone is in the form of blood stained ear discharge with associated cranial nerve palsies. In this paper, we present a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the external auditory canal, who presented with an unusual presentation of a mastoid abscess which led to a diagnostic dilemma. However due to advanced age of presentation and short history, clinical suspicion of associated malignancy was made. Abscess was drained and biopsy from external auditory canal taken for histopathological analysis which confirmed it to be a well differentiated SCC.