A survey of accessory auricle anomaly. Pedigree analysis of seven cases.

We performed an investigation of 50 accessory auricles on subjects encountered during 1983 through 1985. Fifteen of the families were found to have the same accessory auricular deformity among the probands' family members. From these 15 families, we selected seven pedigrees that were not accompanied by auricular deformities who had filial generations for analysis. Pedigrees 1 through 6 showed autosomal dominant inheritance; two also had irregular dominant properties (pedigrees 4 and 7), and one (pedigree 7) could not be excluded from the possibility of having an X-linked recessive inheritance. During the investigation, there were latent accessory auricles in which the cartilages were seen to be subcutaneous only or protruding slightly. Genetically, the pathogenesis of an accessory auricle should be related to the accessory auricular gene.