Abstract
A cartinoid tumor is a tumor whose origin is mainly observed in the celenteronderived organs including the digestive tract, trachea, bronchus, etc., and such tumors occur very rarely in the middle ear. Only 9 reports have been previously made on such cases in Japan. In our case, a 60-year-old female visited our hospital with major complains of hearing difficulty and an occlusive feeling in her left ear. The patient was suspected to have a tumor or cholesteatoma in the middle ear and a tumor in the left tympanic cavity was thus extracted. A prompt pathological examintion, which was conducted during the operation, diagnosed the tumor to be a ceruminoma but an examination of a permanent specimen indicated a middle ear cartinoid tumor. The findings of this case suggest the necessity to include middle ear cartinoid tumors in the differential diagnosis when any tumors or lesions are observed in the middle ear.
