[Ear carcinomas in Department of Otolaryngology of the Medical University of Warsaw in years 2004-2008].

Ear carcinoma constitutes 0.5% of all cancers of the head and neck hardly, however with poor prognosis. In the study we use University of Pittsburgh Staging System. This study is retrospective analysis of the surgical treatment outcomes of the patients with external and middle ear carcinomas in the ENT Department at the Medical University of Warsaw in years from 2004 to 2008. Histopatologicallly, there were:18 squamous cell carcinoma, 17 basal cell carcinoma, 2 neuroendocrine carcinoma, basal cell adenocarcinoma and 1 metatypical carcinoma. Tumors were localised: ear concha in 19 patients, external auditory canal in 6 patients, middle ear in 3 patients, temporal bone and skull base in 9 patients. Among 19 tumors of the auricle, basal cell carcinoma occured the most often (12 patients - 63%), following squamous cell carcinoma (6 patients - 31%), in one case (6%) metatypical carcinoma was confirmed. There were 18 tumors of external auditory canal and tumors with temporal bone involvement in stage T1-T4. In this group 8 subtotal temporal bone resection were performed, however in 5 cases tumor was not totally excised. Additional radiotherapy was performed in 5 patients, 5 died of the disease, three had recurrence in the period of the study and 8 had confirmed metastasis into the breast, lung, cervical and mediastinal lymph nodes. Generally, in this group of patients, 6 died (33%) of the disease in the period from one month to 2 years after surgery. In 6 tumors with no evidence of bone involvement resection limited to the tumor was performed. In 2 tumors of external auditory canal the resection was totally and the patients have no recurrence (100%). Squamous cell carcinoma has poor prognosis, but early diagnosis gives the chance for long-term survival.