A 60-year-old man underwent advanced skull base vascular tumour resection at a private hospital in the city.
The man from Dubai had right-sided progressive hearing loss, ringing sensation over the years and experienced unprovoked bleeding from the right ear and persistent headache. At MGM Healthcare, clinical examination revealed a soft mass popping out of the right external auditory canal. Radiology findings confirmed the presence of a large, highly vascular skull base tumour occupying the region of the right jugular foramen, compressing the vital cranial nerves that aid in the physiology of speech, swallowing and breathing, a press release said. A diagnosis of glomus jugulare tumour was arrived at.
“Skull base surgery is a real challenge for ENT surgeons due to the intricate anatomy. Glomus tumours are extremely rare. It has very high levels of perioperative morbidity in most cases,” said Sanjeev Mohanty, head, Institute of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery at the hospital.
Dr. Mohanty added that surgical access was difficult as there were major blood vessels nearby, and it was extremely close to the brain’s vital parts.
A modified transtemporal and transmastoid surgical approach with facial nerve transposition and blind sac closure was adopted, and the tumour was completely excised. The surgery lasted for 13 hours, and the patient was discharged after a week.
