Twenty-one cases of malignant tumor of the external auditory canal or middle ear

Between 1982 and 1994, 21 patients with malignant tumors of the external auditory canal and middle ear were treated at the Department of Otolaryngology, Niigata University. Eleven patients with tumors of the external auditory canal and 10 tumors of the middle ear were registered. There were 9 males and 12 females, and their ages ranged from 10 to 80 years (median: 61). Otalgia, otorrhea or bloody otorrhea were the chief complaints of most patients with external auditory canal of middle ear tumors. Pathological examination revealed squamous cell carcinoma in 16 patients, adenoid cystic carcinoma in 3 patients, and basal cell carcinoma and rhabdomyosarcoma in 1 patient each. External auditory canal tumors were surgically excised, while radical mastoidectomy and subsequent irradiation were performed for the middle ear tumors. The five-year survival rate determined by the Kaplan-Meier method, was 77.8% for patients with external auditory canal tumors and 40% for those with middle ear tumors.