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Tuberculosis of the tongue: A rare presentation of common disease
*For correspondence: dratulshende@yahoo.co.in
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Received: ,
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This article was originally published by Wolters Kluwer - Medknow and was migrated to Scientific Scholar after the change of Publisher.
A 45 yr old male† presented to the department of Medicine, Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College, Indore, India, in February 2019, with progressive dysphagia with painful oral ulcer for the past one month and weight loss for the past three months. On examination, fungating growth at the tip of the tongue (Fig. 1) and above the epiglottis was noted. Submental and left submandibular lymph nodes were palpable. Other systemic examinations revealed no abnormality.
- Fungating ulcer over tongue.
On routine investigation, complete haemogram, renal and hepatic functions were normal. His erythrocyte sedimentation rate was 72 mm at one hour; upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showed fungating growth over oropharynx and whole oesophagus (Fig. 2). Histopathology showed epithelioid cells and few giant cells with granuloma and dense lymphatic infiltrate with foci of necrosis, suggestive of granulomatous aetiology (Fig. 3). Sputum cartridge based nucleic acid amplification test (CBNAAT), detected Mycobacterium tuberculosis DNA. The patient was treated with the standard anti-tuberculosis (TB) regimen. After four months of treatment, the patient's symptoms resolved and the tongue ulcer healed completely.
- Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy showing fungating growth over oropharynx and whole oesophagus.
- Histopathology showed epithelioid cells and few giant cells with granuloma and dense lymphatic infiltrate with foci of necrosis (H and E stain, ×40).
Tongue TB is a rare presentation; however, it should be kept as a differential diagnosis in refractory cases of tongue ulcerations.
Conflicts of Interest: None.
