Benign adenoma of the middle ear cavity causing facial paralysis

The otologic surgeon infrequently encounters tumors confined to the middle ear cavity. A 30-year-old man had a right facial nerve palsy that was believed to be secondary to chronic otitis media. At surgical exploration, an adenoma of the middle ear involving the ossicles and overlying the facial nerve was found, a radical mastoidectomy performed, and subsequent complete recovery of the facial nerve noted. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a middle ear benign adenoma causing a facial paralysis and the pathology, cause, and differential diagnosis will be discussed.