Atypical isolated epiglottic tuberculosis: a case report and a review of the literature.

Tuberculosis is a systemic disease and its occurrence in the larynx and in the oral cavity is well-documented in the literature. Tuberculosis of the larynx involves mainly the vocal folds and the ventricular band and is associated with pulmonary tuberculosis in 80% of cases. Isolated epiglottic tuberculosis has rarely been described, and it is always associated with pulmonary lesions. The authors report a case of isolated epiglottic tuberculosis in a 72-year-old woman that presented as a laryngeal carcinoma and discuss the diagnostic problems related to its atypical clinical, endoscopic, and radiologic presentation.