Primary myxoma of the temporal bone in a 17-year-old boy: case report

Neurosurgery. 2001 Apr;48(4):945-7; discussion 947-8. doi: 10.1097/00006123-200104000-00055.

Abstract

Objective and importance: Only two cases of primary intracranial myxomas have been described previously in the literature: one patient had a primary intracranial myxoma in the pituitary fossa, and the other patient's myxoma was located in the posterior fossa.

Clinical presentation: A rare case of primary myxoma of the temporal bone in a 17-year-old boy is described. The patient presented with a history of progressive left-sided hearing loss and increasing headaches of a few months' duration.

Intervention: An initial draining procedure in the left ear revealed extant mucous material, and further investigation showed a large calcified lesion involving the petrous and temporal bones and filling the middle fossa. At surgery, a large mucoid-appearing tumor was removed. The tumor pathology revealed a primary myxoma with bone and meningeal involvement. No clinical or histopathological evidence that it was a metastatic lesion was found.

Conclusion: The features of myxomas on computed tomographic and magnetic resonance imaging, the histopathology, and surgical considerations are discussed.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Resonance Imaging
  • Male
  • Myxoma / diagnosis
  • Myxoma / pathology
  • Myxoma / surgery*
  • Skull Neoplasms / diagnosis
  • Skull Neoplasms / pathology
  • Skull Neoplasms / surgery*
  • Stereotaxic Techniques
  • Temporal Bone / surgery*
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed