A Descriptive Study on Mass Lesions of External Auditory Canal

Ear canal mass lesions are very rare and can arise due to varied pathology ranging from simple polyp to severe malignancy. Common causes for ear canal mass formation includes aural polyp, cholesteatoma, bony exostosis and tumors. Clinical symptoms and treatment options vary depending on pathology. This study describes various ear canal mass lesions that were evaluated and treated at our tertiary care hospital. It is a retrospective study on cases of ear canal mass lesions who were treated over a period of 2 years from 2021 to 2023. Data collection included age, sex, clinical symptoms, audiometry/ imaging findings, diagnosis, surgery and biopsy report. Collected data were analysed and reported. This study included 12 patients, among them 7 were females and the remaining 5 were males. Their age group ranged from 10 years to 76 years. Common clinical symptoms included ear pain, discharge and hearing loss. Ear examination showed polypoidal lesion in 9 cases, verrucous lesion in 2 cases and irregular mass in one case. Audiometry showed conductive hearing loss in 7 cases, mixed loss in 4 cases and sensory neural loss in one case. HRCT showed localised lesion in 7 cases and mastoid involvement in 4 cases. Simple excision of localized lesion was done in 6 cases and mastoidectomy was done in 4 cases. Final biopsy was suggestive of inflammatory polyp in 5 cases and cholesteatoma in 2 cases. Other reported pathologies included Squamous cell carcinoma, papilloma, hemangioma and glomus tumor. Mass lesions in ear canal can be of varied aetiology and complete evaluation in the form of detailed history, pure tone audiometry, HRCT of temporal bone and biopsy of the lesion is essential for proper diagnosis and management.