Progressive hearing loss in a rare case of ceruminous pleomorphic adenoma of the external auditory canal

• Main Authors: Emanuele Ferri, Antonella Loperfido, Francesca Boscolo Nata, Giovanni Cristalli
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-06-01
• Series: Otolaryngology Case Reports
• Subjects: Ceruminous pleomorphic adenoma; External auditory canal; Ear surgery; Hearing loss
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468548821000400

Ceruminous Pleomorphic Adenoma (CPA) of the External Auditory Canal (EAC) is an uncommon neoplasm arising from the ceruminous glands, representing the cutaneous counterpart of pleomorphic adenoma of salivary glands. Only 49 cases of CPA have been reported in literature. CPA is usually a benign tumour, although cases of malignant transformation with local recurrence and metastasis have been described.We present the case of a 61-year old male patient with a story of slowly progressive hearing loss, aural fullness and foreign-body sensation in the left ear. Otoscopy revealed a smooth, non-tender lesion covered by normal skin obstructing the external auditory meatus. The lesion was radically removed and a CPA was histologically diagnosed. The patient underwent regular follow-up and there was no evidence of recurrence 40 months after the surgery.Besides sharing the clinical and management details of our patient, we summarized the main features of clinical cases available in literature in order to clarify the differential diagnosis, the clinical and hystopathological aspects, and the treatment.CPA is an unusual neoplasm, it should always be considered in the differential diagnosis of a conductive hearing loss due to an obstructive lesion of the EAC.