A mixed carcinoid tumour of the middle ear

Carcinoid tumours belong to the rarest neoplasms of the middle ear. Murphy et al. (1980) described an interesting carcinoid tumour of the middle ear displaying adenomatous features. The histological similarity of carcinoid tumours to adenomatous tumours of the middle ear has also been noted by Fayemi and Toker (1975). We describe a similar case which caused certain diagnostic difficulties. Light microscopy on frozen sections favoured the diagnosis of a low-grade adenocarcinoma but electron microscopy has revealed the presence of many intracellular membrane-bound neurosecretory granules and the diagnosis was revised to that of a mixed carcinoid tumour.