Abstract
Four cases of malignant tumor of the ear are reported: the first case is a case of squamous cell carcinoma of the auricle of a 78 year old female; the second case is an epidermoid carcinoma of the external auditory canal of a 14 year old male; the third case is squamous cell carcinoma of the middle ear of a 51 year old female; and the fourth case is a sarcoma of the temporal muscle of a 5 year old male. These cases are reported in details with a review of 187 cases of malignant tumor in this region appeared in Japanese literatature.
Of 187 cases of malignant tumor 117 were cancer and 70 were sarcoma. Almost equal incidence of cancer and sarcoma was recorded in the temporal region. Those malignant tumors occurred more frequently in male than female by a ratio of 1.5: in cancer, and 2: 1 in sarcoma.
It is of interest to learn in the literature that most of the middle ear cancer are presented by chronic otitis media, and sarcoma of the temporal area were seen in older people as much as in young age group.
