Ossicular osteoma of the malleus-A rare diagnosis of middle ear mass

Abstract

Osteoma of the middle ear (MEO) is a rarity. Due to the benign nature and slow growth rate, MEO are often occasionally found by chance. Possible unspecific clinical symptoms may be conductive hearing loss, tinnitus, effusion, and a sense of fullness. If the osteoma is small and not visible in the otoscopic inspection, it may be confused with other conductive hearing loss etiologies, such as otosclerosis. Nevertheless, one should be aware of this rare but important differential diagnosis of middle ear lesions. This article presents an MEO case causing conductive hearing loss and outlines the diagnostic approach with computed tomography.

Keywords: CT, computed tomography; Computed tomography; Conductive hearing loss; HU, Hounsfield units; MEO, middle ear osteoma; Middle ear lesion; Middle ear osteoma; Temporal bone osteoma.