Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata successfully treated a rare cancer in the temporal bone which affects one-in-a-million

Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals, Kolkata treated a 48-year-old man with cancer in the temporal bone, an area of the skull above the ear. Mr. Shyam Bihari Tiwari, who was previously treated for cancer in his right temporal bone, suffered from the same condition in his left ear which was diagnosed after six months. It is considered as a rare condition as it affects just one in a million.

Mr. Tiwari, a businessman from Uttar Pradesh had previously undergone a surgery followed by chemotherapy and radiotherapy at Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals by Dr. Tanweer Shahid. A few months after the treatment for cancer on the right temporal bone, Mr. Tiwari came back to the hospital with the same problem in his left ear. Doctors found advanced squamous cell carcinoma of left temporal bone which had spread to his ear canal, involving the parotid glands.

The tumour already had metastatic deposits to neck, parotid and skin infiltration going towards deep inside the brain. As per the doctors, the cancer in the right side had nothing to do with the cancer in the other side. “Ear cancer of the temporal bone is a rare condition with a prevalence of 0.8 to 1 in a million. Bilateral temporal bone cancer is even more rare with just about six cases being reported in medical literature worldwide,” said Dr. Shantanu Panja. The ENT and Head and Neck Onco-Surgeon and his team conducted an eight-hour long surgery to remove the tumour.

The complex surgery, which involved reconstructive surgeon Dr. Saptarshi Bhattacharyya to remove the tumour measuring 15cm x 10cm, included lateral temporal bone resection, radical parotidectomy, wide local excision, modified radical neck dissection with reconstruction by scalp rotation flap and split skin graft.

“It is extremely difficult to treat such tumours because of the complexity of surgery. We could remove the entire tumour. The following histopathology report shows the patient got rid of the cancer,” said Dr. Panja. Luckily, the cancer had not affected his hearing nerves, so he does not have any hearing problem.

“My brother-in-law has been discharged from the hospital a couple of days ago and he is doing fine. He is staying with me so that he can follow up regularly with doctors,” said his relative Shyam Nandan.

Read More about the rare cancer in the temporal bone