Epidermoid Tumors of the Frontal Bone, Sinus and Orbit

SLOW-GROWING tumors involving the frontal bone, sinus and adjacent areas are not always easily differentiated. This treatise will discuss the rather rare epidermoid type of tumor, with report of a case, and will briefly differentiate other growths with which it may be confused. An epidermoid tumor, first described in the literature by Cruveilhier1in 1829, was termed "pearly tumor" because of its highly refractive and nodular surface. Müller2introduced the name "cholesteatoma" in 1838 because of the cholesterol crystals in the mass. Remak3originated the hypothesis that such growths arose from embryonic epidermal rests. Heimendinger,4Cushing,5Skillern,6McFarland,7Ewing,8Coates,9Critchley and Ferguson,10Love and Kernohan,11and Bailey12have concurred in the belief that primary cholesteatomas or epidermoids are congenital new growths coming from misplaced or aberrant epithelial tissue. Bucy13stated that such growths may arise beneath the scalp, within the diploe, between the bone and dura mater,