Malignancy and tuberculosis coexistence: a case series study

Abstract

Background. Tuberculosis (TB) remains the most common infectious disease that kills people worldwide. The occurrence of cancer and Tuberculosis is rare, yet they are the major causes of illness and mortality worldwide. Case presentation. We present four cases of female patients with primary malignancy and Tuberculosis (TB). The first case was diagnosed histopathologically as TB and nodular sclerosis subtype Hodgkin lymphoma. The other two cases were invasive breast carcinoma with TB, and the final case was nasopharyngeal carcinoma with TB. All four patients received six months of antituberculosis medication, followed by anticancer treatment. Conclusion. The probability of coexisting TB and cancer necessitates a thorough histological evaluation to minimize diagnostic failure and hence treatment errors.

Keywords

• tuberculosis
• malignancy
• hodgkin lymphoma
• breast carcinoma
• nasopharyngeal carcinoma