Abstract
Background : Ceruminous adenoma, a rare benign tumor arising in the external auditory canal ceruminous gland, has yet to have its cytological features clarified. We report cytological intraoperative touch smear findings in ceruminous adenoma.
Case : A 34-year-old Japanese man seen for right otorrhea and deafness and found to have a right external auditory canal tumor was referred for tumor excision. Touch smears showed aggregates of polygonal cells with rich eosinophilic granules. Eosinophilic cell nuclei were not atypical and nuclear chromatin was distributed evenly, although cell nucleoli were small and varied slightly in size. Eosinophilic cell nests contained naked cells with small condensed nuclei, suggesting myoepithelial cells. These cytological findings and the tumor location thus yielded a cytological diagnosis of ceruminous adenoma.
Conclusion : Typical cytological findings of polygonal cells with rich eosinophilic granules and myoepithelial cells present are indicative of ceruminous adenoma.
