2013 Volume 23 Issue 3 Pages 216-220
We encountered a rare case of herniation of temporomandibular joint contents into the external auditory canal, possibly attributable to a bone defect of the canal associated with the foramen of Huschke. The patient was a 64-year-old woman who visited our hospital with a complaint of left otalgia persisting for 1 week. She was diagnosed as having pain due to temporomandibular joint disorder and external otitis. Approximately 10 days later, she revisited our hospital, complaining that the otalgia had worsened after eating dried squid. In the left external auditory canal, there was a hemispherical swelling that retracted with her mouth open and protruded with her mouth closed. Computed tomography revealed a bone defect of the external auditory canal, through which a soft-tissue density mass protruded into the external auditory canal. A biopsy ruled out the presence of a tumor. After initiation of splint therapy for temporomandibular joint disorder, the mass gradually became less noticeable.
