Nasopharyngeal tuberculosis: report of four cases and review of the literature

Abstract

Even if tuberculosis is a major cause of morbidity and mortality, nasopharyngeal location is unusual and extremely rare. We report four new cases observed with short time interval suggesting a trend towards increased frequency. The diagnosis was confirmed by histological analysis after a biopsy. The evolution was favorable after anti tuberculosis chemotherapy. In the light of those observations and a review of the literature, we will discuss different characteristics of this disease and we will highlight the need of a systematic biopsy in order to confirm diagnosis, and exclude undifferentiated carcinoma especially in endemic regions for both diseases.

Keywords

• tuberculosis
• nasopharynx
• treatement
• nasopharyngeal neoplasm
• nasopharyngeal disease
• lymph node
• headache
• hearing loss
• nasal obstruction