External auditory canal cholesteatoma

Abstract

Armed Forces Hospital, Brasiila-DF, Brazil (JN, HFO, CAN) Department Otolaryngology Brasilia University Medical School, Brasilia-DF, Brazil External auditory canal cholesteatoma is an uncommon disease that is characterized by desquamating tissue and bone erosion in older patients. The lesion could start after a microtrauma in the canal, with consequent squamous epithelium proliferation and periostitis. Another possibility is the loss of the skin migration property, which causes retainment of desquamated cells. It is often associated with infection but it generally presents few symptoms. In this paper we present two cases of external auditory canal cholesteatoma, one of them in a middle age patient, unlike the highest prevalence in older patients.Copyright © The mediterranean Society of Otology and Audiology.