Ear
Inflammatory / infectious / autoimmune / systemic disorders
Inflammatory aural / otic polyp
Author: Nat Pernick, M.D.
Last author update: 1 October 2013
Last staff update: 24 May 2023
Copyright: 2002-2023, PathologyOutlines.com, Inc.
PubMed Search: Inflammatory aural polyp
Table of Contents
Definition / general | Treatment | Gross description | Microscopic (histologic) description | Differential diagnosisCite this page: Pernick N. Inflammatory aural / otic polyp. PathologyOutlines.com website. https://www.pathologyoutlines.com/topic/earinflammatoryotic.html. Accessed June 3rd, 2023.
Definition / general
- Inflammatory polypoid proliferation of middle ear mucosa secondary to chronic otitis media
- May perforate tympanic membrane and appear to originate from external auditory canal; with time, may destroy ossicles
- More common in children but occurs in all ages
- Often associated with extensive disease of mastoid air cell system (in rural India, Am J Otolaryngol 2003;24:155) or cholesteatoma of middle ear (Acta Otorrinolaringol Esp 2003;54:161)
Treatment
- Excision
- Possibly mastoid exploration
Gross description
- Polypoid, soft / rubbery, pink / tan / red lesion
Microscopic (histologic) description
- Squamous or ciliated columnar epithelium containing lymphocytes, histiocytes, plasma cells, eosinophils
- Mott cells (plasma cells with large eosinophilic immunoglobulin) and granulation type tissue; usually mast cells (J Laryngol Otol 1995;109:491), variable neutrophils, multinucleated giant cells, cholesterol granulomas and tympanosclerosis
Differential diagnosis
- Plasmacytoma: monoclonal light chains
