Pathological and molecular diagnosis in a case of primary laryngeal tuberculosis in a physician

Abstract

Primary laryngeal tuberculosis is a rare disease with a wide variety of clinical manifestations. We report the case of an ear-nose and throat diabetic physician with primary laryngeal tuberculosis. The diagnosis of laryngeal cancer had been considered before in another institution, and at the patient’s admission, he only presented dysphonia with a six-month evolution. The vocal cord histological examination showed granulomas, giant cells, fibrosis and necrosis, and the Ziehl-Neelsen staining showed acid-alcohol resistant bacilli. The culture from vocal cord tissue was positive for mycobacteria, and IS6110-PCR was positive too. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis strain was sensitive to first line drugs. Treatment using directly observed therapy short-course (DOTS) was initiated. Clinical presentation, differential diagnosis, diagnostic workup, associated risk factors and a brief literature revision are discussed in this article.