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Original ArticleOpen Access
Nasopharyngeal Tuberculosis
Chongkolwatana C 
,
Nilsuwan A
,
Nilsuwan A Nasopharyngeal tuberculosis used to be a common disease in the upper aerodigestive
system. Before 1920, 1.4 and 6.5 per cent of all adenoids and tonsils removed from asymptomatic
patients were infected by tuberculosis. After the introduction of antituberculous chemotherapy
and BCG vaccination, this disease was considered uncommon and sporadic cases were reported
in the medical literature. Recently, tuberculosis has begun to increase again due to the high
global HIV-infected rate and antituberculous drug resistance among these people. To describe
and highlight the clinical features of this condition, fifteen Thai patients (7 males and 8 females)
from the Department of Otolaryngology, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand were reviewed.
Cervical lymphadenopathy was the most common presenting symptom in our series (93.34o/c ). II
of them were classified as primary nasopharyngeal tuberculosis and most had abnormal nasopharyngeal
findings by mirror examination except 2 cases. Although all had histopathological
confirmation of nasopharyngeal tuberculosis, sometimes problems occur in the diagnosis
between this disease and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which are also common among Oriental
people in many of their clinical similarities. Therefore routine nasopharyngeal biopsy is considered
justified and diagnostic.
system. Before 1920, 1.4 and 6.5 per cent of all adenoids and tonsils removed from asymptomatic
patients were infected by tuberculosis. After the introduction of antituberculous chemotherapy
and BCG vaccination, this disease was considered uncommon and sporadic cases were reported
in the medical literature. Recently, tuberculosis has begun to increase again due to the high
global HIV-infected rate and antituberculous drug resistance among these people. To describe
and highlight the clinical features of this condition, fifteen Thai patients (7 males and 8 females)
from the Department of Otolaryngology, Siriraj Hospital, Bangkok, Thailand were reviewed.
Cervical lymphadenopathy was the most common presenting symptom in our series (93.34o/c ). II
of them were classified as primary nasopharyngeal tuberculosis and most had abnormal nasopharyngeal
findings by mirror examination except 2 cases. Although all had histopathological
confirmation of nasopharyngeal tuberculosis, sometimes problems occur in the diagnosis
between this disease and nasopharyngeal carcinoma, which are also common among Oriental
people in many of their clinical similarities. Therefore routine nasopharyngeal biopsy is considered
justified and diagnostic.
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