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Mastoiditis secondary to metastatic lung carcinoma: case report and literature review
1Department of Ear, Nose and Throat Surgery, Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Gloucester, UK. philip.clamp@nhs.net
Objective:
We present a case report and systematic review of acute mastoiditis caused by metastatic lung cancer.
Case Report:
A 62-year-old woman developed acute mastoiditis as a complication of otitis media. Cortical mastoidectomy revealed deposits of metastatic non-small cell lung carcinoma around the sigmoid sinus. The patient had previously received treatment for lung cancer, but was thought to be in remission.
Discussion:
A literature review confirmed that this is the first reported case of mastoiditis caused by metastatic lung cancer. Only four similar case reports were identified: two caused by breast carcinoma, one by renal cell carcinoma and one by cholangiocarcinoma. Post-mortem histopathological studies suggest that temporal bone metastasis occurs in 22 per cent of oncology cases.
Conclusion:
This is the first reported case of mastoiditis caused by metastatic lung cancer. Metastasis to the temporal bone is not uncommon, but rarely causes mastoiditis.
