Vol.101 No.7 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 101 No. 7 July 2008
Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis Accompanying Head
and Neck Cancers: Clinical Aspects of 9 Cases
Suetaka Nishiike, Masako Uno, Teruhito Aihara and Tamotsu Harada
(Kawasaki Medical School)
Yasuhiro Osaki
(Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine)
Morihiro Irifune
(Osaka Prefectural Medical Center for Respiratory and Allergic Diseases)
We reviewed 9 patients with active pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) accompanying head and neck cancer. There were 5 patients with hypopharyngeal cancer, 2 with laryngeal cancer and 2 with tongue cancer. All patients were male and the mean age was 62 years old. TB detected simultaneously with the diagnosis of cancer was defined as "synchronous" and found in 4 patients, and TB that developed during the cancer course was defined as "secondary" and found in 5 patients. Two of the synchronous patients had a previous TB history and 3 of the secondary patients had a TB history. Bacteriologic cure was achieved within an average of 3 months. In one patient, TB relapsed 3 years after antitubercular chemotherapy. Seven patients died of malignancies, one died of other diseases and one has remained disease-free for 4 years to date.
Key words :pulmonary tuberculosis, cancer, coexisting