ISOLATED TUBERCULOSIS OF PAROTID GLAND:A COMMON DISEASE AT AN UNCOMMON LOCATION WITH REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Tuberculosis infection is a common health problem in developing countries like India which is caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). It commonly affects the pulmonary system. Although it can affect any organ of the body but salivary glands especially the parotid gland arethe rarest entity that is involved in tuberculosis. Less than 200 cases have been reported in literature till now and mostly diagnosed in post-parotidectomy specimens. Generally, it presents with a painless growing mass and hence, its clinical diagnosis is challenging and may be misdiagnosed as it can mimic parotid gland neoplasm on physical examination. Radiological investigations such as ultrasonography (USG) and computed tomography (CT) are not much beneficial. In such cases, fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) is the preliminary step for the workup of the patients. Histologically diagnosis is confirmed by the presence of well-formed epithelioid cell granuloma and acid-fast bacilli (AFB) stain is positive for tubercular bacilli. Here we report a case of tubercular parotitis in a 50-year-old female diagnosed on histopathological examination and patient treated with anti-tubercular therapy (ATT) successfully.