Abstract
We analyzed 20 patients with carcinomas of the external auditory canal that were treated in our hospital between 2005 and 2008. The patients were grouped according to the staging classification established by the University of Pittsburgh: T1 (3 patients),T2 (3 patients),T3 (4 patients),T4 (10 patients),N1 (one T2 and three T4 patients) and M1 (one T4N1 patient). The patients were also classified per the standard cancer staging method:stage 1 (3 patients), stage II (2 patients), stage III (4 patients) and stage IV (11 patients). Squamous cell carcinoma was implicated in 18 of the cases, basal cell carcinoma was observed in 1 case and the remaining case was diagnosed as verrucus carcinoma. The disease-specific 5-year survival rate was 77.4% for all cases, 100% for cases in stage I, II and III and 56.7% for stage IV cases. Of the 5 cases of stage IV carcinomas that required surgery, 3 of these cases survived and 2 of these cases eventually succumbed to the cancer. Of the 6 cases of stage IV carcinomas that did not require surgery, 3 of the cases survived, 2 of the cases eventually succumbed to the cancer and 1 of the cases died as the result of a separate disease. In recent years, we have changed our method of treatment for cases with middle ear invasion from subtotal temporal bone resection combined with chemoradiotherapy to lateral temporal bone resection. As a result, we have seen an increase in our 5-year survival rate. Therefore, this treatment strategy is considered to be an effective method in the treatment of carcinomas of the external auditory canal.
