Multiple Temporal Bone Anomalies in Isotretinoin Syndrome

Abstract

Vitamin A and its derivatives are known teratogens. To our knowledge, this is the second temporal bone histopathologic report on anomalies related to these substances. A white boy (aged 4 years 5 months at death) was born with a complex central nervous system dysgenesis related to his mother's use of isotretinoin (Accutane) early in pregnancy. Histopathologic examination revealed multiple anomalies in the temporal bones: a narrow external auditory canal, protrusion of bone marrow into the middle ear cavity, anomalies of the ossicles, hypoplasia of the facial nerve, absence of the chorda tympani nerve and the stapedius muscle, anomalies of the membranous labyrinth in the vestibule, a hypoplastic lateral semicircular canal, and a large vestibular aqueduct and endolymphatic sac.