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Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome

Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal (EAC) are rare neoplasms that appear in the head and neck area. A common feature of these malignancies is their rarity, as well as their delayed diagnosis due to the appearance of non-specific symptoms that mimic various benign otologic conditions. The...

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Autores principales: Samara, Pinelopi, Athanasopoulos, Michael, Goulioumis, Anastasios, Athanasopoulos, Ioannis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Open Exploration Publishing 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10645464/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37970205
http://dx.doi.org/10.37349/etat.2023.00169
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author Samara, Pinelopi
Athanasopoulos, Michael
Goulioumis, Anastasios
Athanasopoulos, Ioannis
author_facet Samara, Pinelopi
Athanasopoulos, Michael
Goulioumis, Anastasios
Athanasopoulos, Ioannis
author_sort Samara, Pinelopi
collection PubMed
description Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal (EAC) are rare neoplasms that appear in the head and neck area. A common feature of these malignancies is their rarity, as well as their delayed diagnosis due to the appearance of non-specific symptoms that mimic various benign otologic conditions. The reported histological types of cancer of the external ear are: squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, angiosarcoma, adnexal carcinoma (including ceruminous adenocarcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma), and lymphoma (Lancet Oncol. 2005;6:411–20. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(05)70208-4). Several therapeutic interventions have been proposed, primarily orientated towards the cure of the patient, placing the surgical excision of the lesions at the tip of the spear. Subsequently and depending on the clinical stage and the pathological characteristics of the tumor, radiation, chemotherapy, a combination thereof, or some form of palliative treatment for particularly advanced cases, may be recommended. The aim of all the above-mentioned approaches is the complete resection of the mass with negative surgical margins along with lymph node dissection, the elimination of any residual disease or metastasis, and the improvement of survival. The anatomical complexity of the region will always remain a demanding challenge. Nevertheless, advances in the fields of ear microsurgery, imaging, radiation, molecular biology, and genomics have led to remarkable outcomes compared to the past, with a view to the patient’s quality of life. Large, well-organized, and prospective studies with the participation of multiple centers in contrast to existing retrospective studies with a limited number of patients will help to establish universally accepted guidelines. The exploration of the molecular and genetic background of these cancers in conjunction with the search for new biomarkers and target molecules seems promising for providing upgraded and more personalized treatment modalities for the future.
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spelling pubmed-106454642023-11-15 Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome Samara, Pinelopi Athanasopoulos, Michael Goulioumis, Anastasios Athanasopoulos, Ioannis Explor Target Antitumor Ther Review Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal (EAC) are rare neoplasms that appear in the head and neck area. A common feature of these malignancies is their rarity, as well as their delayed diagnosis due to the appearance of non-specific symptoms that mimic various benign otologic conditions. The reported histological types of cancer of the external ear are: squamous cell carcinoma, basal cell carcinoma, malignant melanoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, angiosarcoma, adnexal carcinoma (including ceruminous adenocarcinoma and adenoid cystic carcinoma), and lymphoma (Lancet Oncol. 2005;6:411–20. doi: 10.1016/S1470-2045(05)70208-4). Several therapeutic interventions have been proposed, primarily orientated towards the cure of the patient, placing the surgical excision of the lesions at the tip of the spear. Subsequently and depending on the clinical stage and the pathological characteristics of the tumor, radiation, chemotherapy, a combination thereof, or some form of palliative treatment for particularly advanced cases, may be recommended. The aim of all the above-mentioned approaches is the complete resection of the mass with negative surgical margins along with lymph node dissection, the elimination of any residual disease or metastasis, and the improvement of survival. The anatomical complexity of the region will always remain a demanding challenge. Nevertheless, advances in the fields of ear microsurgery, imaging, radiation, molecular biology, and genomics have led to remarkable outcomes compared to the past, with a view to the patient’s quality of life. Large, well-organized, and prospective studies with the participation of multiple centers in contrast to existing retrospective studies with a limited number of patients will help to establish universally accepted guidelines. The exploration of the molecular and genetic background of these cancers in conjunction with the search for new biomarkers and target molecules seems promising for providing upgraded and more personalized treatment modalities for the future. Open Exploration Publishing 2023 2023-09-21 /pmc/articles/PMC10645464/ /pubmed/37970205 http://dx.doi.org/10.37349/etat.2023.00169 Text en © The Author(s) 2023. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, for any purpose, even commercially, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
spellingShingle Review
Samara, Pinelopi
Athanasopoulos, Michael
Goulioumis, Anastasios
Athanasopoulos, Ioannis
Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
title Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
title_full Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
title_fullStr Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
title_full_unstemmed Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
title_short Malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
title_sort malignant tumors of the external auditory canal: diagnosis, treatment, genetic landscape, biomarkers, and clinical outcome
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10645464/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37970205
http://dx.doi.org/10.37349/etat.2023.00169
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