The Role of Facial Palsy in Staging Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Temporal Bone and External Auditory Canal

Abstract

This pooled-data survival analysis for SCC of the EAC demonstrates that facial nerve involvement is associated with a poor outcome and that the survival outcomes for subjects with facial palsy more closely parallel the survival curves of advanced stage T4 disease. Disease with facial palsy should be classified as stage T4, in accordance with the PITT-2000 system.

Malignant Transformation From Benign Papillomatosis of the External Auditory Canal

“…Patients may also present with a mass lesion, facial swelling, facial paresis, and other cranial nerve deficits. Facial nerve palsy may be present in up to 25% of cases at the time of presentation (7,9). Isolated metastatic nodal disease is a rare presentation of temporal bone SCC.…”

“…Isolated metastatic nodal disease is a rare presentation of temporal bone SCC. The disease is staged according to the modified Pittsburg classification for EAC carcinoma (9).…”

Survival outcomes of patients with temporal bone squamous cell carcinoma with different invasion patterns

“…Temporal bone malignancies were deemed to have an ominous outcome and prognosis in previous studies . Although comprehensive therapy combining surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy has been adopted, the overall survival of patients with SCC progressively worsens at higher T classifications . The 5‐year overall survival rate for patients with temporal bone malignancies was reported as 58.0%, and the 5‐year disease‐free survival rate was reported as 54.9% .…”

Surgical Approach for Treatment of Carcinoma of the Anterior Wall of the External Auditory Canal

“…Because of concern about anterior spread of a tumor via preformed pathways, Leonetti et al (4) routinely perform superficial parotidectomy at the time of temporal bone resection and total parotidectomy in cases in which the bony canal had been destroyed. Recently, Higgins and Antonio (17) reported that a preoperative facial nerve weakness predicts a prognosis most similar to advanced disease, specifically similar to T4 disease as staged by Pittsburgh staging system in 2000 (18). However, facial or cranial nerve paralysis was not seen in any patient in our study.…”