Osteoid osteoma of the temporal bone manifesting as first bite syndrome and a meta-analysis combined with osteoblastoma

The objectives of this study were to describe a case of osteoid osteoma arising from the temporal bone manifesting only as first bite syndrome as the sole clinical symptom, to perform a meta-analysis of previously reported cases, and to differentiate the clinical characteristics of osteoid osteoma from those of osteoblastoma arising from the temporal bone. In addition to our case, articles addressing osteoid osteoma or osteoblastoma arising from the temporal bone were selected using PubMed, Embase, and the Japan Medical Abstracts Society database (1954 through 2014), with no language preference. The database was searched using the keywords [“osteoid osteoma” OR “osteoblastoma” AND “temporal bone”]. After critical review of 88 studies, 10 cases of osteoid osteoma and 29 cases of osteoblastoma were selected; therefore, including the present case, a total of 40 cases were eligible for qualitative analyses. The mean size of osteoid osteoma was 1.2 cm, which was significantly smaller than that of osteoblastoma (5.1 cm). Radiologically, osteoid osteoma was associated with a lower prevalence of extension into more than two anatomically categorized spaces in comparison with osteoblastoma (P < 0.01). Again, a lower prevalence of erosion of the outer and/or inner tables of the skull in the osteoid osteoma cases was noted (P < 0.05). Conversely, there were no significant differences in the prevalence of representative clinical symptoms, including pain and swelling. According to the present systematic review, osteoid osteoma and osteoblastoma are clinically uniform other than their size or extension.