Presentation of the Internal Carotid Artery As a Tumor of the Middle Ear

The authors have encountered 3 cases in which the internal carotid artery presented as a tumor of the middle ear. All masses of the middle ear, especially pulsatile ones, should be investigated by arteriography prior to biopsy, and the location of the internal carotid artery in the carotid canal should be evaluated in relation to the middle ear. The use of the “vestibular line” may help in determining this relationship. Any vessel encroaching on this line should be viewed with extreme suspicion as possibly representing the middle ear mass.