Primary Laryngeal Tuberculosis

Madiha Mahfoudhi^1*, Khaled Khammassi², Amel Gaieb Battikh¹, Mamia Ben Salah², Sami Turki¹

¹Department of Internal Medicine, A. Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.
²Department of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Charles Nicolle Hospital, Tunis, Tunisia.

DOI: 10.4236/ijcm.2015.64030                

Abstract

Primary laryngeal tuberculosis is rare. It can manifest as a malignancy delaying the diagnosis and the therapeutic management. We report the case of a 34-year-old immunocompetent man whose plaints were fever, sweat and dysphonia. There were no adenopathy, nor hepatosplenomegaly. Several blood cultures were negative. Laboratory studies showed an inflammatory syndrome. In addition, the bacteriological examinations of sputum and urine in search of Mycobacterium tuberculosis were negative. Laryngoscopy confirmed the presence of a thickness of the right vocal cord and an ulcer in the hemilarynx. The histological examination revealed tuberculoid granulomas suggestive of tuberculosis. The culture from vocal cord tissue for Mycobacterium tuberculosis was positive. No other focus of tuberculosis was found on X-ray and computed tomography. Treatment by a combination of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide induced a total resolution of symptoms.

Keywords

Larynx, Tuberculosis, Dysphonia

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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