Facial nerve schwannoma mimicking chronic suppurative otitis media: A case report

Rationale: Facial nerve schwannoma (FNS) is a rare slow-growing nerve sheath tumor derived from Schwann cells. FNS with normal facial nerve function may sometimes be misdiagnosed as otitis media because of similar ontological symptoms such as purulence, tympanic membrane damage, and hearing loss. Patient concerns: A 68-year-old woman was referred to our department because of otorrhea and hearing loss in the right ear for 20 years. Otoscopy revealed abundant purulent secretions deep in the right external auditory canal, and granulation proliferation in the posterior part of membranae tensa. Audiogram showed a right mixed hearing loss with an 85-dB pure-tone average and 35-dB air-bone gap. Diagnosis: This patient was misdiagnosed as chronic suppurative otitis media before surgery. During surgery, a mass was found, and intraoperative frozen section histopathology confirmed an FNS. Interventions: This patient was subjected to mastoidectomy for curing chronic suppurative otitis media initially. During surgery, a mass was found attached and widely extended into the tympanic and mastoid segments. We removed most part of the mass, however found the mass deriving from the vertical part of the facial nerve. Intraoperative frozen section histopathology confirmed an FNS. So we removed the incurs and malleus, and searched for the edge of the mass. The mass involved multisegments of facial nerve including the tympanic, vertical and pyramidal segments. The tumor was removed compl...
Source: Medicine - Category: Internal Medicine Tags: Research Article: Clinical Case Report Source Type: research