Primary laryngeal tuberculosis mimicking supraglottic carcinoma

Introduction: Primary laryngeal tuberculosis is an extremely rare form of tuberculosis and very few have been reported in literature. Case Report: We describe a case of a 35­year­old female who presented with symptoms and sign of a supraglottic carcinoma. The patient presented with progressive hoarseness of two month’s duration. Direct fiberoptic laryngoscopy showed a polypoidal growth involving the supraglottic larynx. Tissue sections from the growth showed epithelioid granuloma with Langhans giant cells. Ziehl–Neelsen staining on the tissue section showed the presence of scanty acid­fast bacilli. No primary foci of tuberculosis were detected anywhere else in the body by clinical, radiological and examination of acid­fast bacilli in the bronchioalveolar lavage fluid. Conclusion: Awareness of existence of isolated primary laryngeal tuberculosis is important especially in endemic areas. In case of diagnosis of laryngeal tuberculosis all effort should be made to look for an active or inactive lesion elsewhere in the body before diagnosing as primary laryngeal tuberculosis.