Treatments and outcomes of malignant tumors of external auditory canal.
OBJECTIVE
Primary cancer of the external auditory canal (EAC) is a rare disease with poor prognosis. Because of the rarity of this entity, there is no large series for staging, treatments, and outcomes. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the treatment modalities and outcomes for malignant tumors of EAC at our institute, comparing with other studies.


METHODS
We retrospectively reviewed the patients treated for primary cancer of EAC between 1991 and 2002 at our hospital, which is a tertiary referral center. Ten males and 2 females were enrolled in this study. The median follow-up period was 56.5 months. The interventions included sleeve resection, radical mastoidectomy, or lateral temporal bone resection combined with neck dissection or parotidectomy. Adjuvant radiotherapy was performed in case of incomplete resection. All patients were staged according to the Pittsburgh staging system.


RESULTS
Ten patients had squamous cell carcinoma and 2 had adenoid cystic carcinoma (ACC). Five patients had stage I disease, 2 with stage II, 1 with stage III, and 4 with stage IV. All patients (n = 7) with early stage (I or II) were disease-free, but only 1 of 5 patients with late stage (III or IV) was disease-free. The recurrences occurred in 50% (2/4) of patients with incomplete resection, despite of the adjuvant radiotherapy. Only one patient with complete resection had recurrence and the histologic diagnosis of this particular patient was ACC.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients with early-stage cancer can benefit from less aggressive surgical interventions without significant morbidity or mortality. No recurrence occurred in patients with complete resection except the one with ACC. The result of our institute was comparable or superior to those of other studies in early-stage disease. However, patients with advanced cancer had high recurrence rate despite of adjuvant radiotherapy, suggesting more aggressive surgical approach for complete resection was necessary.
Chang
Chia-Hao
CH
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, MacKay Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan.
Shu
Min-Tsan
MT
Lee
Jehn-Chuan
JC
Leu
Yi-Shing
YS
Chen
Yu-Chun
YC
Lee
Kuo-Sheng
KS
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003528:Carcinoma, Adenoid Cystic / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D004424:Ear Canal / Q000473:pathology*; D004428:Ear Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000401:mortality* / Q000473:pathology; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D013506:Otologic Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D011379:Prognosis; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D013624:Taiwan