Temporal bone carcinoma is a rare entity. Incidence of Sqamaous Cell Carcinoma( SCC ) of temporal bone is very less accounting as less than 6 cases per million per year which is 0.3% of all head and neck tumors. Temporal bone carcinoma is frequently misdiagnozed before surgery. Delay in treatment as a result of misdiagnosis has a poor prognosis. Five year disease specific survival is only 19% to 48%1-3. In this article we are reporting two cases of temporal bone carcinoma. In these cases High Resolution Computed Tomography (HRCT) and MRI findings revealed soft tissue density in external auditory canal with involvement of middle ear and mastoid area. The disease was in filtrating the surrounding bony substance which was ill defined, there was destruction of ear ossicles with limited erosion of facial canal wall. Both cases were initially misdiagnozed as chronic otitis media with extensive cholesteatoma which were later proved to be SCC temporal bone. Both cases underwent surgical resection with adequate marginsto eliminate the disease. HRCT reports were consistent with the intraoperative findings and post surgery histopathology reports. Patients underwent radiotherapy postoperative and followed up for average 6 months without recurrence.

Keywords: Temporal bone carcinoma; Head and neck cancers; Lateral temporal bone resection; Radiotherapy.