Fifty-one patients with squamous cell carcinomas arising within the temporal bone were subdivided into two groups. The initial group of 17 patients, seen between 1960 and 1980, were reviewed retrospectively and staged into four subgroups on the basis of initial tumor presentation and location (i.e., external auditory canal, superficial invasion, deep invasion, and tumors beyond the temporal bone). After treatment in a variety of surgical and radiotherapeutic combinations, the 5-year cure rates were: 70%, 70%, 50%, and 9%, respectively. Thirty-four patients, seen between 1980 and 1989, were placed in a new prospective protocol for combined surgery and postoperative irradiation. These patients were subdivided into the same subgroups on the basis of tumor location. The surgical procedures were formalized to be more encompassing (i.e., external canal tumors were treated by sleeve resection of the internal auditory canal and tympanic membrane, superficial invasion by superficial temporal bone resection, deep tumors by radical temporal bone resection, and those beyond the temporal bone by an infratemporal fossa approach). Radical neck dissections were performed where needed. The irradiation dosage was increased to 6250+ cGy, with a 4:1 ratio in favor of electrons for deeper penetration, and the fields were widened. At 36.6-month average followup, the cure rates were: 100%, 100%, 70%, and 65%, respectively. Six of ten patients with neck metastases at presentation had tumor recurrence or distant disease (60%).