A mistaken identity: rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear cleft misdiagnosed as chronic suppurative otitis media with temporal lobe abscess.

A 5-year-old girl presented with a 3-month history of left side facial palsy, followed sequentially by purulent ear discharge, complete external ophthalmoplaegia and blurred vision. On clinical examination she was febrile with left-sided conductive hearing loss. She was clinically diagnosed to have chronic suppurative otitis media of the unsafe type with petrous apicitis, middle cranial fossa abscess and cavernous sinus involvement. Preliminary CT scan findings were reported as a large left temporal lobe abscess and left otitis media with cholesteatoma. MRI of the brain obtained later corroborated the abnormalities detected on the CT scan. Ten days after admission, a mass was seen protruding from the external auditory canal. A biopsy of the mass was obtained and sent for histopathological examination. Meanwhile, review of the MRI suggested an aggressive neoplasm such as sarcoma/rhabdomyosarcoma. Histopathology clinched the final diagnosis of an anaplastic type of embryonal rhabdomyosarcoma of the middle ear cleft. 2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.