EMBRYONIC TISSUE IN THE MIDLE EAR AND MASTOID: REPORT OF TWO CASES

Abstract

The following report is interesting and unusual from both a clinical and a pathologic point of view, since it demonstrates the persistence of mesenchyme in the middle ear and mastoid antrum in two persons over 50 years of age. That the tympanic membrane was inspected and an audiometer test was made a short time before death add to the interest of these cases. REPORT OF CASES CASE1.—A white man, aged 63, admitted to the Bay View Division of the Baltimore City Hospital on Oct. 20, 1928, had myocardial insufficiency. He died four days later. The audiometer record (fig. 1) showed an impaired perception for both low and high tones, more marked on the right. The arrow at 8192 indicates that this tone was tested and could not be heard in either ear at the maximum intensity of the audiometer. The tympanic membrane was intact and showed no evidence