Aural polyp in chronic inflammatory middle ear disease

240 patients with chronic otitis media (COM) were studied: 166 ears termed as non cholesteatomatous otitis media and 74 with cholesteatoma. In 38 ears an aural polyp was found with no evidence of cholesteatoma in 19 ears (11.4%) whereas a cholesteatoma was present in the remaining 19 ears. The histology of the polyp and the characteristics of the chronic process were matched: a) The aural polyp is an infrequent complication in COM. b) After histological analysis was found to present two different pictures: The inflammatory reaction polyp, present in non cholesteatomatous COM; and the polyp with granulation tissue and foreign body reaction (keratina) usually found in cholesteatomatous COM. c) The finding of granulation tissue reaction and keratina in an aural polyp is a good predictor for the presence of a cholesteatoma.