Tuberculosis of the Tongue Clinically Masquerading as a Neoplasm: A Case Report and Literature Review

Abstract

Tuberculosis of the tongue is a very rare event even in areas and countries in which tuberculosis is endemic. The disease can present itself in a variety of clinical appearances, most of which may mimic malignant lingual neoplasms clinically. In this case, we present a patient who initially complained of an ulcerated lingual swelling, which was suspected to be a squamous cell carcinoma on clinical examination. In addition, the diagnosis was missed on the first and initial biopsy as it was not representative of the lesion. The diagnosis of lingual tuberculosis was made by histopathology on a second biopsy. In this article, we described the clinicopathological features of tuberculous glossitis with a comparison between our case and other similar reported cases in addition to a literature review.

Keywords

• Tongue
• Tuberculosis
• Glossitis