[Malignant tumors of external ear. Review of cases in 1991-2001]

Carcinoma of the external auditory canal is a rare tumor. Owing to the rarity of this disease, the literature provides very few publications of series. There is not a widely accepted staging system. The lack of a standarized staging system impedes meaningful interpretation of the literature. It is very difficult to compare different treatment strategies and results. The study is a retrospective case review. Seven patients with external auditory canal malignancies were studied. We used the staging system proposed by Arriaga et al. for both the Squamous cell carcinoma and non-SCC. We describe the risk factors, the symptoms, the treatment and the outcome and prognosis for our patients.