En bloc surgical removal of an asymptomatic glomus tympanicum tumor.

Glomus tympanicum (GT) tumors are usually characterized by pulsatile tinnitus and hearing loss. We report on a woman 53 years of age who was diagnosed with a GT tumor within her right ear with no associated tinnitus or hearing loss on presentation. An early GT tumor without the characteristic symptoms is seldom encountered. Although several papers have dealt with GT tumor diagnosis and management, very few have demonstrated such a condition in which the entire GT tumor appeared in the middle ear cavity and was totally removed during the operation. There was no recurrence at 24 months of follow-up. We describe a novel surgical technique in this article and demonstrate an en bloc GT surgical removal that has been seldom published before in the literature.