증례

Paraganglioma of the External Auditory Canal : A Case Report

Hyo-Seok Seo1, Sung-Won Choi1, Soo-Keun Kong1, Eui-Kyung Goh1,*
Author Information & Copyright
1Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery, Pusan National University School of Medicine, Busan, Korea
*교신저자: 고의경, 49241 부산광역시 서구 구덕로 179 부산대학교 의학전문대학원 이비인후과학교실 전화 :(051) 240-7336·전송 :(051) 246-8668 E-mail:gohek@pusan.ac.kr

© Copyright 2017 The Busan, Ulsan, Gyeoungnam Branch of Korean Society of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery. This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Received: Sep 26, 2017; Revised: Oct 25, 2017; Accepted: Nov 22, 2017

Published Online: May 31, 2020

ABSTRACT

Paragangliomas are benign tumors originating from paraganglia and characterized by a collection of small neuroendocrine organs. In the ear, paragangliomas are commonly found in the middle ear or jugular bulb. Paragangliomas of the external auditory canal (EAC) are extremely rare. Here, we present our experience with a 25-year-old woman who was admitted to our otology department for intermittent scanty left otorrhea. A physical examination revealed a 3×4 mm-sized pedunculated mass on upper portion of the anterior wall of the left EAC. Computed tomography revealed a non-specific, soft tissue mass in the left EAC without erosion of the underlying bony canal. An excisional biopsy was performed. Histopathological features favored a diagnosis of paraganglioma. At a 9 month post-operative follow-up, the patient had a patent external auditory canal without recurrence. Paragangliomas tend to be locally destructive, and can lead to disability in the form of hearing loss especially in EAC. Although paraganglioma is a very rare disease, our results indicate that it should be included in the differential diagnosis of an EAC mass. (J Clinical Otolaryngol 2017;28:234-237)

Keywords: Paraganglioma; External ear canal; Diagnosis; Histopathology