Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Mastoiditis

Abstract

Although nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections are recognized as an important cause of cervicofacial lymphadenopathy in children, NTM mastoiditis is rare. Further, NTM mastoiditis may be difficult to distinguish clinically from tuberculous mastoiditis since both may present with chronic, painless otorrhea and exuberant middle ear granulation tissue. The treatment of tuberculous mastoiditis is antituberculosis chemotherapy; however, most NTM infections are resistant to antituberculous agents, and the preferred treatment of NTM mastoiditis is mastoidectomy. We report a recent case of mastoiditis caused byMycobacterium aviumcomplex in an infant who presented with a temporal bone mass. (Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 1995;121:225-228)