Some Manifestations of Tuberculosis in Otorhinolaryngology—Case Series and a Short Review of Related Data from South-Eastern Europe
Open accessAbstract
Tuberculosis is a disease of global outreach that may affect the entire human body but is most commonly located in the lungs. Otorhinolaryngological manifestations of tuberculosis are rare, mostly occurring secondary to pulmonary disease but nevertheless represent significant diagnostic challenges. Nasopharyngeal tuberculosis is rare, representing around 1% of all upper air-way localizations and the most common presentation is in the form of adenoids. Tuberculous glossitis (oral tuberculosis) is even scarcer and may present in various clinical forms, usually mimicking a malignant neoplasm, or, less often, trauma or other infectious lesions. Oropharynx tuberculosis is usually misdiagnosed as hypertrophic chronic tonsillitis. We present four rare cases of ENT tuberculosis, primary adenoiditis and tonsillitis in a 13-year-old girl, a curious case of tuberculous glossitis in a 65-year-old woman, clinically diagnosed as a lingual neoplasm and two cases of tuberculous lymphadenopathy uncommonly located in the submandibular and supraclavicular regions. A comprehensive review of literature follows the case presentations. Tuberculous manifestation in the ear, nose and throat area remains a difficult diagnosis to establish, particularly because of its rarity and non-specific clinical appearance, and should be included in the differential diagnosis of pharynx lesions. An early diagnosis is essential to avoid occurrence of complications.
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TB can also affect the oropharynx and oral cavity, though these presentations are rare and often misdiagnosed as other malignancies.
“TB can also affect the oropharynx and oral cavity, though these presentations are rare and often misdiagnosed as other potential malignancies due to its hypertrophic presentation [11].”
From Head and Neck Tuberculosis: A Rare Diagnosis and the Role of Surgical Biopsy and Histopathological Evaluation in Extrapulmonary Disease (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
The Introduction and Discussions describe oral-cavity TB as rare and note that tongue lesions can be mistaken for neoplasms. The Abstract says oropharyngeal TB is usually misdiagnosed as hypertrophic chronic tonsillitis, not as a malignancy because of a hypertrophic presentation. The cited paper therefore supports the locations and rarity, but conflates the two diagnostic patterns in the citing sentence. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredHead and neck extrapulmonary tuberculosis is rare.
“Extrapulmonary tuberculosis (EPTB) of the head and neck is a rare but difficult diagnosis”
From Head and Neck Tuberculosis: A Rare Diagnosis and the Role of Surgical Biopsy and Histopathological Evaluation in Extrapulmonary Disease (2025) · cites this paper as [11]
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- Authors
- Mocanu, A.-I., Mocanu, H., Moldovan, C., Soare, I., Niculet, E., Tatu, A. L., Vasile, C. I., Diculencu, D., Postolache, P. A., & Nechifor, A.
- Affiliations
- Titu Maiorescu University (RO)
- Clinica de Pneumologie Iaşi (RO)
- Grigore T. Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy (RO)
- "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati (RO)
- Corresponding author
- Mocanu, Adela-Ioana
- ORCID
- Venue
- Infection and Drug Resistance
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2022-05
- Volume
- Volume 15
- Pages
- 2753-2762
- ISSN
- 1178-6973 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9166903
- OpenAlex
- W4281693746
- Cited by
- 18
- References
- 38
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 2 · 2022: 2
- FWCI
- 3.82
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Infection and Drug Resistance (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- Universitatea 'Dunărea de Jos' Galați
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis
- Keywords
- extrapulmonary tuberculosis, nasopharyngeal tuberculosis, tuberculous lymphadenitis, submandibular lymphadenopathy, supraclavicular lymphadenopathy, pediatric tuberculosis, Southeastern Europe
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