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Eustachian tube teratoma and its terminological correctness

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 June 2007

Carlos B. Ruah*
Affiliation:
Department of Otolaryngology of the Faculty of Medical Sciences of the New University of Lisbon, Portugal
David Cohen
Affiliation:
Department of Pathology of the Hertzlia Medical Center, Hertzlia, Israel and the Ear Research Laboratory, Sackler School of Medicine and Bioengineering Program, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
Jacob Sadé
Affiliation:
Sara and Felix Dumont Chair of Hearing Research, Sackler School of Medicine and Bioengineering Program, Tel-Aviv, Israel.
*
Address for correspondence: Carlos B. Ruah, M.D., Ph.D., R. Rodrigo da Fonseca 127-3Dt, 1070 Lisbon, Portugal.

Abstract

Teratomas are germ cell tumours usually found in the young and are characteristically composed of tissue foreign to the place where they arise. Two teratomas of the middle ear were first described in 1866 and since then, and to the best of our knowledge, 19 additional cases have been reported in the literature under different terms such as hairy congenital polyps, epidermoid cysts, dermoid cysts, hamartoma, cutaneous teratoma and teratomas. The difficulty in classifying germ cell tumours may explain the different terminologies encountered in the literature. The authors describe a case of teratoma of the eustachian tube presenting as a mass in the middle and external ear of a 10-week-old girl. Using this case, a review of the literature is performed in light of the new classification of germ cell tumours proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is of note that most of the teratomas that present in the middle ear arise from, or involve, the eustachian tube.

Type
Pathology in Focus
Copyright
Copyright © JLO (1984) Limited 1999

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