Laryngeal tuberculosis presenting as carcinoma.

A typical patient had laryngeal tuberculosis (TB) mimicking carcinoma. The accompanying patient complaints from a representative literature survey are discussed. The difficulty of clinically differentiating laryngeal carcinoma from TB or another granulomatous process is stressed, as in the utility of obtaining a simple chest roentgenogram, a TB skin test, and, when indicated, a sputum examination. The pathogenesis of laryngeal TB and the treatment of health care personnel exposed to such a patient also is mentioned. The spectrum of TB, as well as the spectrum of physicians treating TB, is changing. The presence of a laryngeal process in a patient with active pulmonary TB is an important association that must not be overlooked.