악하선 타석으로 오인된 악하선 결핵 1예

The tuberculosis of salivary gland is very rare and a specific form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis. The parotid gland is the most frequently involved in this lesion and the submandibular gland is the next. It occurs in two different forms-an acute inflamatory lesion or a chronic tumorous lesion. But this lesion may be a difficult diagnostic problem because it may mimic the more common acute inflamatory disease or mixed tumors of submandibular gland. Definite diagnosis is made usually by the histopathologic examination after surgical removal although history, physical examination, tuberculin skin test, AFB stain, culture and biopsy result are all needed to be considered. The successful treatment is achieved by removal of gland with involved lymph node and secondary antituberculous chemotherapy. Authers reported a case of primary submandibular tuberculosis represented as a cervical mass preoperatively suspected submandibular stone. (J Clinical Otolaryngol 2002;13:254-258)