MRI and CT of adenomatous tumours of the middle ear

We report three adenomatous middle-ear tumours, an adenoma, an adenocarcino ma and a semimalignant adenomatous tumour, with special attention to CT and MRI findings. In all cases we found small intratympanic masses in which th e ossicles were embedded. All showed contrast enhancement and similar signa l intensity as brain tissue on T1- and T2-weighted images. The biological n ature of the tumours was not reflected by the imaging or operative findings .