Abstract
Congenital cholesteatoma of the tympanic membrane is an extremely rare pathological condition, and very few cases have been reported. We report the case of an 11-year-old boy with cholesteatoma of the left tympanic membrane who underwent endoscopic tumor resection with an uneventful postoperative course. It is generally understood that inflammation-induced basal cell proliferation of the cutaneous layer of the tympanic membrane causes cholesteatoma in patients with a history of otitis media. On the other hand, aberrant squamous cells during the embryonic period are considered to result in the disease in patients without a history of otitis media. Cholesteatoma has been reported to invade the tympanic cavity and destroy the auditory ossicles; thus, in principle, surgical treatment is preferable. Resection of the cholesteatoma was performed using an endoscope, which provided us with a clear view of the layers to be dissected, enabling us to spare the middle layer of the tympanic membrane. Therefore, this method was found to be effective.
