Abstract
Osteomas are benign lesions of the lamellar bone that within the temporal region are common in the external ear canal. Osteomas of the middle ear are extremely rare and until now there are only 14 reported cases. They usually present with conductive hearing loss while others are asymptomatic and diagnosed incidentally.
1
Introduction
Osteomas of the temporal bone are usually found in the external auditory canal, however its presence in other areas has been reported such as the mastoid region, the squama and the internal auditory canal, being extremely rare the reports in the middle ear. Actually in the medical literature there is a report of 70 cases of temporal bone osteomas originating outside the external canal, being only 14 of these osteomas of the middle ear .
2
Case reports
We present a case of a 33 year-old female with history of secretory otitis media in her childhood treated with ear tubes, who complained of hearing loss for the 3 last years, with no other symptoms. Left otoscopy showed an image suggesting a cholesteatoma pearl in the anterior-inferior quadrant of the eardrum and mild unilateral conductive hearing loss in the audiometric tests.
CT scan was performed showing an osteoma located on the promontory that contacted with the inner tympanic layer leaving its mark and bulging in the ear drum; there was no evidence of images that suggested cholesteatoma ( Figs. 1, 2 ). The patient was explored with microscopic otoscopy under local anesthesia, but since her hearing loss was slight, it was decided not to remove the lesion.
