Hemangioma of the tympanic membrane: a case and a review of the literature

Abstract

Hemangiomas of the external auditory canal, involving the posterior bony canal and the adjacent tympanic membrane, although rare, are considered a specific disease entity of the human external auditory canal. Hemangiomas of the tympanic membrane and/or external auditory canal are rare entities; there are 16 previous case reports in the literature. It is a benign vascular tumor. It generally occurs in males in the sixth decade of life. Total surgical excision with or without tympanic membrane grafting appears to be effective in the removal of this benign neoplasm. The authors present a case and a review of the literature discussing diagnostic and surgical approaches.

Figure 1

Otomicroscopic view of left tympanic membrane. The exofitic and vascular mass is seen in medial-superior part of the drum.

Figure 2

Computed tomography scanning without means of contrast. A 3 mm soft tissue mass is localized in the superior part of ear drum in correspondence of malleus with no present signs of erosion. Middle ear cavity and the other ossicles appeared normal.

Figure 3

Cavernous hemangioma, HE, 50x. Histologic image of the tumours consisting in a well-defined proliferation of dilated tortuous vascular structures, closely adhering to each other, filled by erythrocytes in the lumen. They varied in size and were delimited by a single layer of flat endothelial cells. Superficially, the lesion was lined by hyperkeratotic squamous epithelium.