• Shuai Zhang, Hongguang Zhao, Ri Sa, Xiaowei Qin, Limei Qu, Yubo Wang, Shuanglin Deng, Hong Yu, and Songbai Xu.
• Department of Neurosurgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, Jilin, P.R. China.
• World Neurosurg. 2019 Jul 1; 127: 381-386.

BackgroundThe vast majority of cerebellopontine angle tumors are benign with a favorable prognosis. Metastatic tumors occurring in the cerebellopontine angle are extremely rare. Herein, we report a case of colon carcinoma metastasis to the bilateral internal auditory canals.Case DescriptionA 59-year-old man presented with a 2-week history of binaural hearing loss. One year before admission, he was diagnosed with colon carcinoma and underwent surgical resection combined with chemotherapy. Physical examination showed complete hearing loss in bilateral ears and bilateral facial palsy. Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain revealed nodules in the bilateral internal auditory canals. Middle-ear computed tomography demonstrated soft-tissue masses extending into the bilateral internal auditory canals. A diagnosis of neurofibromatosis type II was suspected. A unilateral surgical resection of the cerebellopontine angle tumor was performed. Postoperatively, the hearing loss and facial palsy remained unchanged. Pathologic examination showed metastatic, poorly differentiated carcinoma. The patient was diagnosed with metastatic colon carcinoma in the bilateral internal auditory canals. The patient refused radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The tumor progressed rapidly, and the patient developed dysphagia and choking 1 month later. The patient died of respiratory and circulatory failure 2 months after the surgery.ConclusionsClinicians should be aware of metastatic tumors in the internal auditory canals. Comprehensive clinicoradiologic evaluation should be highlighted. A history of malignancy and rapidly progressive hearing loss and facial palsy may suggest the diagnosis of metastasis to the internal auditory canal. The definitive diagnosis still depends on histopathologic examination.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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