Abstract
Herein we report a 3-year-old boy brought to the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Saga Medical School because of tugging of the left ear in July 2000. He had never been treated for otitismedia. A small white sphenical mass was seen at the left tympanic membrane. The mass was extirpatedunder surgical microscopy, and the mucosal layer was preserved. The patient was diagnosed withcholesteatoma. Congenital cholesteatoma of the tympanic membrane is relatively rare, and congenitalcholesteatoma of the tympanic membrane without otitis media is extremely rare. The aetiopathogenesis ofthis lesion is still unclear. An embryologic origin was suspected because there was no previous history ofinflammatory process of the external or middle ear. We propose that the cholesteatoma within the tympanimembrane would be added in the originating site classification of the congenital cholesteatoma.
