A Case of Parotid Tuberculosis Mimicking Benign Tumor of Parotid Gland

Abstract

Tuberculosis of parotid gland is extremely rare, even in countries where tuberculosis is endemic. It can occur by systemic dissemination from a distant focus or as primary involvement. Because of the clinical and radiological similarity, parotid tumor and parotid inflammatory disease take priority over the tuberculosis of parotid when it comes to differential diagnosis. As a result, clinicians often fail to make a timely diagnosis of tuberculosis of parotid gland in patient with a slowly growing parotid mass. However, its treatment is primarily medical if the positive diagnosis is well established. We have recently experienced a case of tuberculosis of parotid gland that was considered as the benign tumor preoperatively, but which was confirmed as tuberculosis of parotid gland after extracapsular dissection. We report it with a review of literature.