A Case of Tongue Tuberculosis with Pulmonary Tuberculosis / 대한내과학회지

ABSTRACT

Up to 1937, 357 cases of tongue tuberculosis had been reported. However, Since potent antituberculosis drugs had been introduced, the incidence of oral tuberculosis lesions has been dramatically decreased. This might be related to the marked vascularity of the tongue which enables a high concentration of the drug to be reached to the lesion. Both the primary and secondary types of tuberculosis can be revealed in the oral cavity. In the primary type, the causative organisms are directly inoculated in the oral mucosa of a person who has never been tuberculosis earlier and who has not acquired an immunity to the disease, In the secondary type, tuberculosis of the oral cavity is coexistent with pulmonary disease. We report a case of tongue tuberculosis with pulmonary tuberculosis, with a review of literature.