Dermoid of the Eustachian Tube

Diagnostic and surgical challenge: Middle ear dermoid cyst in 12 month old with branchio-oto-renal syndrome and multiple middle-ear congenital anomalies

“…Middle-ear dermoid cysts have been referred to in the literature as a dermoid, hairy cyst, hairy polyp, and teratoma [9][10][11][12][13][14][15]. The vast majority of dermoid cysts originate outside of the head and neck.…”

“…It seems the most common location for dermoid cysts in the head and neck is the nasopharynx, many of which have arisen from the eustachian tube [14]. Approximately 30 cases of temporal bone dermoid cysts are described in the literature, with about half of these originating from the eustachian tube [11,12,15]. Eustachian tube dermoid cysts can present in either the middle ear or the nasopharynx, depending on their site of origin within the eustachian tube.…”

“…The most common theory of pathogenesis for middle ear dermoid cysts describes an inclusion of ectoderm within an endodermal lining that occurs during the fourth week of gestation when the germ layers of the middle ear differentially separate [11][12][13].…”

The presence of a lipoma in the Eustachian tube: a case report

“…These lesions include, amongst others, tumors of dermoid cysts [4], teratoma [5], malignant mucosal melanoma [6] and synovial sarcoma [7], Here, to the best of our knowledge, we report the first case of a lipoma originating from the Eustachian tube. We found four cases of lipomas which were found to arise from the middle ear [3,8-10], two of them invading the Eustachian tube, and even extending to the nasopharynx.…”

“…Zollner [11] suggested a good approach to the tube via an open mastoid cavity, or at least the tympanic entrance of the bony part of the tube, which is used by many aural surgeons [3,4,9]. In 1969, House [12] designed the middle fossa approach for Eustachian tuboplasty.…”