Cholesteatoma of the external auditory canal: A common entity at a rare site

Résumé

External auditory canal cholesteatoma is a rare entity when compared with the middle ear cholesteatoma. Despite the rarity, the radiologist should be aware of the main imaging findings for the differential’s diagnosis and how to stage the lesion for the correct surgical management.

This article describes a 51-year-old male patient with progressive right ear dull pain and hearing loss. In this context, a plain high-resolution temporal bone computed tomography scan was obtained, showing a well-defined soft tissue attenuating lesion in the external auditory canal with bone wall erosions and small bone flecks inside the lesion.

The patient was submitted to a canaloplasty, which confirmed the diagnosis.