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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Annals of Otology and Neurotology 2021; 4(01): 033-035
DOI: 10.1055/s-0041-1735991
Case Report

Primary Malignant Melanoma Limited to the External Auditory Canal: A Rare Presentation

Dillip Kumar Samal
1   Department of ENT & Head and Neck Surgery, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
,
C. Preetam
1   Department of ENT & Head and Neck Surgery, AIIMS, Bhubaneswar, Orissa, India
,
Anjan Kumar Sahoo
2   Department of ENT & Head and Neck Surgery, Maulana Azad Medical College, New Delhi, India
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Abstract

Malignant melanoma limited to the external auditory canal is very rare. These patients present relatively late as compared with melanoma involving other subsites of external ear. However, the tumor is slow-growing but shows aggressive behavior with a poor prognosis when presented late. We have a 44-year-old female who presented with a blackish lesion, which was bleeding on and off from her left ear. She was managed with wide local excision, preserving maximum part of external auditory canal cartilage. The histopathology of the lesion was suggestive of malignant melanoma. After a thorough evaluation, she was kept under close follow-up. Malignant melanoma of external auditory canal shows poor prognosis usually, mainly because of late presentation. Thus, early diagnosis is crucial, as in our case, where wide local excision was sufficing, and the patient is disease-free after 4 years of follow-up.

Keywords

superficial parotidectomy - lateral temporal bone resection - neck dissection - external auditory canal


Publication History

Article published online:
28 September 2021

© 2021. Indian Society of Otology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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