Primary tuberculosis of the larynx

Tuberculosis is a chronic bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, usually affecting the lung, but very rare cases of isolated laryngeal tuberculosis have been reported.

To demonstrate the importance of considering the diagnosis of this disease, which presents with very variable and sometimes misleading clinical and endoscopic features, but for which medical treatment is very effective.

This retrospective study was based on ten cases of laryngeal tuberculosis managed between January 2004 and December 2009. The objective of this study was to describe the epidemiology, clinical and complementary investigation findings and treatment of primary tuberculosis of the larynx in a context of endemic tuberculosis based on a review of the literature.

In this series, primary tuberculosis of the larynx essentially affected male smokers and drinkers. Clinical and endoscopic signs were totally non-specific and similar to those of laryngeal cancer. Only bacteriological and histological examinations were able to establish the diagnosis. Once the diagnosis was confirmed, antituberculosis chemotherapy was administered for a minimum duration of 6 months with excellent short-term and long-term results.

Globally, the characteristics of this series are closely correlated with those reported in the literature. Due to the non-specific laryngeal signs observed on clinical examination, clinicians must consider the possibility of laryngeal tuberculosis and must not hesitate to confirm this diagnosis by bacteriological and histological examination