Otorhinolaryngological Manifestations of Tuberculosis

Objective: Tuberculosis, one of the oldest disease in man, is even today, a leading cause of human suffering and loss of life. TB has the potential to infect any organ in the body due to lympho-haematogenous dissemination. Therefore, this study was conducted to know the manifestations of the disease in various regions of Otolaryngology. Methodology: The study was conducted in the ENT department, Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar. Duration of study was two years from January, 2005 to December, 2006. Results: A total of 100 patients presented with primary head and neck TB during the study period. Most of these (97%) had tubercules cervical lymphadenpthy. Age ranged from 8 to 55 years. The mean age was 31.5 years. Thirty six were male and 64 were female. Sixty five patients were diagnosed by FNAC examination and 32 required biopsy and histopathological confirmation. One patient each of laryngeal TB, cervical spine TB and retropharyngeal abscess (TB) were diagnosed by MRI. Conclusion: TB is a challenging disease, its diagnosis requires a high index of suspicion. FNAC is a reliable and easy way to diagnose, however, gold standard is biopsy for histopathology.