ABSTRACT
Tuberculosis is at the present time a worldwide endemic disease. Extrapulmonary tuberculosis is less frequent than the pulmonary form and its diagnosis represents a challenge. Laryngeal tuberculosis accounts for less than 1 percent of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. In this report, we present a case of laryngeal tuberculosis diagnosed in a 12 years old girl at the pediatric department of a general hospital. The patient had a six months history of hoarseness and persistent cough. At the time she was admitted at the hospital she complainted about stridor, odynophagia, weakness and respiratory distress. A cervical mass was the main finding at her physical exam. A laryngeal nodule was shown after practicing a direct laryngoscopy. The biopsy of this lesion revealed presence of a granulomatous inflammatory process compatible with tuberculosis. Besides the samples of sputum taken at her admission for acid -fast bacilli direct examination and culture were positive. We would like to emphasize the delay in diagnosing this case, because of the outpatient clinical study failed in proposing to carry out a direct laryngoscopy in this patient, despite she complainted of hoarseness and persistent cough.
La tuberculosis (TBC) es en la actualidad una endemia a nivel mundial. La tuberculosis extrapulmonar, menos frecuente que la forma pulmonar constituye un desafío diagnóstico. La forma laríngea representa menos del 1 por ciento de las tuberculosis extrapulmonares. En esta publicación, presentamos un caso de tuberculosis laríngea diagnosticada en una escolar de nuestro servicio de pediatría hospital Dr. Gustavo Fricke, cuyos síntomas cardinales fueron disfonía y tos presentes durante 6 meses previo al diagnóstico. Al momento de ingreso al servicio se había agregado compromiso del estado general, odinofagia estridor y dificultad respiratoria. Al examen físico destacaba la presencia de masa cervical. El diagnóstico se realizó mediante laringoscopia directa que evidenció nódulo en cuerda vocal derecha cuya biopsia reveló presencia de proceso inflamatorio crónico granulomatoso compatible con TBC. Las baciloscopías y cultivo de Koch de expectoración, realizados al momento del ingreso, resultaron positivos. Cabe destacar el retraso diagnóstico del caso, debido a que nunca se planteó realizar laringoscopia durante el estudio ambulatorio, pese a la presencia de disfonía y tos persistente.