Ear
Middle ear and inner ear tumors - malignant
Squamous cell carcinoma
Author: Nat Pernick, M.D.
Last author update: 1 November 2013
Last staff update: 1 March 2021
Copyright: 2002-2024, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Squamous cell carcinoma of middle inner ear
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Case reports | Treatment | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Differential diagnosis | Additional referencesCite this page: Pernick N. Squamous cell carcinoma. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/earmiddlescc.html. Accessed April 19th, 2024.
Definition / general
- Rare; usually age 50s and 60s
- Usually > 20 year history of chronic otitis media or radiation therapy for intracranial tumor or middle ear inflammation
- 25% have associated cholesteatomas
- Symptoms: long standing chronic otitis media with sudden onset of pain, otorrhea, hemorrhage
- 5 year survival: 39%; 10 year survival: 21%; usually no metastatic disease
Case reports
- 71 year old man with primary squamous cell carcinoma of middle ear invading cochlea (Ann Otol Rhinol Laryngol 1983;92:290)
Treatment
- Radical surgery with radiation therapy, chemotherapy for advanced disease
Gross description
- Tumor fills middle ear spaces, may invade walls of mastoid air cells, bone adjacent to carotid canal, internal auditory meatus, Eustachian tube and external auditory canal
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Resembles squamous cell carcinomas at other sites, well to poorly differentiated
- Infiltrative malignant cells with keratinization, intercellular bridges
Differential diagnosis
- Cholesteatoma: no atypia
- Direct invasion from nasopharynx, skin, external ear, parotid gland
- Metastases: need good history to rule out
Additional references
