A Giant Congenital Mastoid Cholesteatoma With Extension to the Occipital Condyle

A congenital mastoid cholesteatoma (CMC) is a keratinizing epithelium originating from embryological epithelial tissue of the mastoid. It is often not diagnosed until it becomes large because of its rarity and indolent nature. Although there are a few reports on giant CMC, its exact extensions have not been well described, and detailed information regarding surgical methods is lacking, especially in giant CMC involving the occipital condyle and the middle and posterior cranial fossae. In this article, we report a case involving a 70-year-old woman with a giant CMC that extended inferiorly to the occipital condyle. The CMC eroded the middle and posterior cranial fossae, sigmoid sinus plate, and fallopian canal of the facial nerve. For complete removal, we used a subtotal petrosectomy in conjunction with an exposure of the cranial cervical junction and a wide decompression of the suboccipit. The boundaries of exposure were similar to those of a petro-occipital transsigmoid approach which is usually used for management of tumor involving the jugular foramen. The wide exposure allowed for complete removal of the lesion without any complications. Thus, we recommend this surgical approach for management of the giant CMC involving the occipital condyle and the middle and posterior cranial fossae.

Temporal bone primary inverted papilloma – Case Report and review of the literature

Inverted papilloma of middle ear is an extremely rare lesion of the respiratory epithelium that normally occurs in the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses. So far less than 17 cases were described in literature. A 45-year-old patient was admitted in our Department with hearing loss, otorrhea and pulsing tinnitus on the right ear. The clinical examination showed a granulation tissue on the right eardrum. No tumor formation was seen in the nasal cavity. The MRI showed a tissue formation in the tympanic cavity with an extension in the middle cranial fossa. A mastoidectomy with antrotomy and duraplasty was performed. The histological diagnosis was inverted papilloma of the middle ear. In a second step occurred an eradication of the tumor with a subtotal petrosectomy. The etiology of the inverted papilloma of the middle ear is unknown. Our case is so far the 18nd case described.Our experience has shown that the eradication of the tumor with a subtotal petrosectomy resulted as reasonable procedure. A long-term follow-up is suggested in order to detect possible recurrence or malignant transformation.

Infralabyrinthine petrous bone cholesteatoma (literature review)

A literature review on the infralabyrinthine petrous bone cholesteatoma (PBC) was presented in this article. Attention is paid to etiology and clinical symptoms of the disease, classifications. All modern classifications divide cholesteatoma with localization under the labyrinth into two big groups: infralabyrinthine and infralabyrinthine apical. This is not enough to determine the algorithm of surgical tactic of these patients. The most used approaches to the infrlabyrinyhine area and lateral skull base were analyzed (infralabyrinthine and infracochlear, subtotal petrosectomy, transotic approach, group of transcochlear approaches, infratemporal and translabyrinthine approaches). Possible variants of the surgery ending are described (tympanoplasty or “cul-de-sac” closure). Comparison of the results of different authors, starting from 1990, in which the infralabyrinthine cholesteatoma was distinguished as a separate class was carried out. 16 publications were analyzed based on the type of used classification, the total number of cases with infralabyrinthine cholesteatoma, the type of surgical approach, the complications and recurrence rate. The total number of patients was 141, 84 with infralabyrinthine (59,6%), 57 (40,4%) with infralabyrinthine apical PBC. The most common type of surgery were subtotal petrosectomy, transcochlear approach in different variations and transotic approach. The recurrence rate ranged from 0 to 29%. This paper identifies unresolved issues, the necessity of new classification and algorithm of surgical management based on it.

Subtotal Petrosectomy With Preservation of Chorda Tympani for Petrous Bone Cholesteatoma: Case Report

A petrous bone cholesteatoma (PBC) is a rare epidermoid cyst of the petrous portion of the temporal bone. The main treatment is subtotal petrosectomy (SP), which generally involves sacrificing the chorda tympani. We report a case of extensive supralabyrinthine PBC in an elderly patient undergoing hemodialysis that was treated by SP with anatomical preservation of the chorda tympani. To the best of our knowledge, preservation of the chorda tympani during SP has not been previously reported. For maintenance of postoperative taste and appetite, preservation of the chorda tympani is a meaningful maneuver whenever possible.