Carcinoma of the external auditory canal are a relatively uncommon entity, accounting for only 1% of all head and neck carcinomas, and the management of this tumor type is not fully established. The aim of this study was to analyze clinical outcomes following lateral temporal bone resection (LTBR) for external auditory canal carcinomas.
Between 1994 and 2012, we performed LTBR for 10 patients. The histopathological types were squamous cell carcinoma in 5 cases, adenoid cystic carcinoma in 3 cases and basal cell carcinoma in 2 cases. The clinical stages were T1 in 8 cases, T2 in a case and T3 in a case.
In the T3 case the temporo-mandibular joint (TMJ) was surgically resected via a transcranial approach because of tumor invasion of the TMJ. The resected tumor in all cases demonstrated a pathologically tumor-free margin. Two patients underwent post-operative radiotherapy because of the risk of recurrence: in one case because of a histologically diagnosed closed-surgical margin and in the case for an intraoperative cut-in into the tumor. The disease-specific 5-year survival rate was 100% using the Kaplan-Meier method.
This study revealed that LTBR is a good indication for the initial treatment of external auditory canal carcinomas in the early stages. Furthermore, it showed that postoperative radiotherapy is recommended for the cases with high risk of recurrence.
