Cholesterol granuloma coincidence with a large and high jugular bulb: report of a case.

We present a case of right middle ear mass who had an abnormal large jugular foramen, high jugular bulb and large jugular vein on the same side. CT scan could not exclude a glomus tumor. Theoretically, retrograde jugular venography and carotid angiography will give the most useful information. However, in this case we tried to use the MRI scan instead. It showed high signal in T1W, T2W, GRT2W which correlated with blood pigments of methemoglobin in middle ear and mastoid. The low signal in MRI scan T1W, T2W clearly showed enlarged jugular vein, high jugular bulb with diverticulum which helped to excluding a glomus tumor. This finally turned out to be a cholesterol granuloma coincidence with abnormal enlarged jugular foramen and jugular vein. We suggest the MRI scan is very helpful and much safer for patients compared to angiography.