title: Carcinoid tumor of the middle ear.
abstract: Although carcinoid tumors are labeled as neuroendocrine tumors they can also originate in tissue lacking neuroendocrine cells, such as that in the middle ear. Symptoms of a carcinoid tumor in the middle ear are common ear symptoms such as fullness, pain and hearing loss. Carcinoid tumors have also been considered to be slow-growing. Both these aspects can easily lead to a relatively late diagnosis of carcinoid tumor of the middle ear. The diagnosis is made histologically, and the tumor is primarily treated surgically. In the follow-up of patients, octreotide scanning has proved to be a sensitive method in cases of both recurrence and metastasis. Our patient was a 34-year-old, otherwise healthy female with left-sided acute otitis media and facial palsy in her left ear. She had also suffered from the same symptoms 4 years earlier. She was treated with an operation, and the histologic diagnosis was a carcinoid tumor. In the follow-up of the patient we used octreotide scanning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Central Hospital of Central Finland, Jyväskylä, Finland. elina.nikanne@ksshp.fi
authors.forename: Elina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Nikanne
authors.forename: Olli
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kantola
authors.forename: Tapani
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Parviainen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002276:Carcinoid Tumor / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D004428:Ear Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery; D007758:Ear, Inner / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006314:Hearing Loss, Conductive / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans