Mycotic infection of the temporal bone

Herein is a histopathologic study of the temporal bone changes in three patients with fatal systemic fungal infections. All three patients were compromised hosts who failed to respond to adequate chemotherapy. Interestingly, one patient with cryptococcosis had a unilateral hearing loss as the sole manifestation of cerebral cryptococcosis. The most common histopathologic change consisted of a fungal infiltration of the nerves in the internal auditory canal, with moderate infiltration of the sense organs of the membranous labyrinth.