Cholesteatoma of the Maxillary Sinus

Park, Sang Ho; Baek, Seung Hyuk; Song, Tae Hyun; Cha, Young Jin

Abstract

Cholesteatoma of the paranasal sinuses is a rare entity: It is most often located in the frontal sinus and less commonly in the ethmoids and maxillary sinuses. The cholesteatomatous sinus has its otherwise normal respiratory epithelium lining partially or totally replaced by a hyperkeratotic squamous epithelium which in turn leads to the formation of lamellar sheets of keratin. Cholesteatoma in the sinus behaves as it does in the ear. The exact etiology of cholesteatoma is not known, and the diagnosis of cholesteatoma is difficult, largely due to lack of awareness. We present a 30-year-old man with cholesteatoma of the maxillary sinus and a left facial pain as his chief complaint. PNS CT revealed a homogenous soft tissue density containing calcific mass within the left maxillary sinus. Antral lesions was removed with a Caldwell-Luc approach with wide antrostomy. Histologic examination revealed cholesteatoma. We report this case of cholesteatoma of makillary sinus with a review of literature.