A Case of Multiple Myeloma Involving Temporal Bone

Kim, Soo Whan; Oh, Choung Hyun; Kim, Joo Hwan; Jung, Min Kyo

Abstract

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a systemic manifestation of plasma cell tumor. It shows anemia, bone pain and some pathologic fracture. MM is a relatively well known disease, but temporal bone involvement is very rare. In 1979, Lavine first reported the temporal bone involvement in MM. Since then, only a few cases of temporal involvement in MM were reported in literature. In Korea, temporal bone involvement in MM has not been reported yet. It is very difficult to diagnose MM of temporal bone in the early stage, since it presents general, nonspecific otologic symptoms and it is difficult to carry out pathological confirmation in the temporal bone. In most of reported cases, patients are already diagnosed with MM. when they are presented with MM of temporal bone. If MM is found in the temporal area, it is considered to be in the terminal stage of disease, but treatment for it is the same as that for the usual MM. We experienced a case with intractable otalgia and suddenly developed facial palsy, which was later confirmed to be a MM after a pathologic review and a systemic evaluation. We report this rare case with a review of literatures.