Oncology >>>> Ear cancer

Ear cancer.

Ear cancer is quite rare, but nevertheless deserves close attention, as it rapidly develops and metastasizes to the skull, to the lymph nodes, to the jaw (upper and lower), to the salivary ducts. Metastases affect the nerve endings, tissues and blood vessels of the brain, destroy the bone tissue of the jaw and skull (temporal bone). The ear tumor sometimes comes into contact with the branches of the trigeminal nerve and causes symptoms similar to those of facial neuritis. Cancer can be located in both the outer and inner part of the ear, and can also affect the auricle or ear canal. Depending on the place of tumor formation, there are:

outer ear cancer (14% of the total number of ear cancer cases),
middle ear cancer (4%),
ear cancer (82%).

The causes of ear cancer in most cases are the result of ear diseases (tumors, tissue hyperplasia, chronic skin diseases (eczema, psoriasis, lupus), cicatricial changes in ear tissue, chronic purulent infections). Other causes are trauma, thermal or sunburn, ionizing radiation.

Signs of ear (pinna) cancer are visible to the naked eye:

Bleeding wart formation on the auricle, outgrowth or erosion of tissue (spinocellular epithelioma),
An ulcer-like formation or scar tissue (basal cell carcinoma),
A round knot of white or yellowish color with a smooth or bumpy surface (sarcoma).

Typical symptoms of ear cancer (outer and middle ear):

Ear pain (burning sensation),
Irradiating pains from the ear to the head, jaw,
Headaches,
Dizziness,
Continuous itching in the ear canal,
A feeling of fullness of the ear ,
Discharge from the ear (mucous membranes, purulent),
Bad smell from the ear,
Hearing loss,
Swollen lymph nodes,
Neuritis of the facial nerve and / or paralysis of facial muscles (late symptom),
Examination of the ear may reveal ulcers, polyps, granulations, and bleeding.

Ear cancer diagnosis is made difficult by the fact that the symptoms of middle ear cancer are similar to those of other ear conditions. Therefore, a thorough examination of the ear is required (otoscopic, radiological and histological). Ear cancer clinic in the initial stage resembles chronic suppurative otitis media. In later stages, a large mass of granulation tissue and polyps is found, the amount of purulent exudate increases, and a fetid odor appears.

Ear Cancer treatment in the early stages of the process - surgical and radiation, in the later stages, radiation and chemotherapy. In the early stages of tumor development, it is excised within healthy tissues, after being irradiated. When a cancerous tumor spreads to the area of the auditory canal, inner ear and middle ear, tissue is excised more extensively. The ear canal, bone, eardrum (which is restored and retained hearing) can be removed. In radical resection, the auditory canal, middle ear tissue, and temporal bone (which can be restored (reconstructed)) are removed. Chemotherapy is carried out before or after surgery and aims to eliminate metastases that spread to other areas of the body. Chemotherapy is prescribed, correlating its future results with the patient's age and state of health.

The prognosis of ear cancer treatment depends on the stage of tumor development and the type of ear cancer (spinocellular epithelioma, basal cell carcinoma, sarcoma). Sarcoma and advanced stages of other forms of ear cancer have a poor prognosis . In the case of early diagnosis of ear cancer (with the exception of sarcoma), there are positive prognosis.