Published in:
01-12-2014 | Case Report
Klebsiella pneumoniae pharyngitis mimicking malignancy: a diagnostic dilemma
Authors:
C.-F. Yeh, W.-Y. Li, Y.-B. Hsu
Published in:
Infection
|
Issue 6/2014
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Abstract
Acute pharyngitis is a common disease. However, acute pharyngitis caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae with a gross appearance mimicking hypopharyngeal malignancy has never previously been reported. We report the case of a 57-year-old man with a right hypopharyngeal tumor which was disclosed by fiberoptic laryngoscopy and computed tomography scan. However, both the frozen and final pathologies showed no evidence of malignant cells, and a bacterial culture revealed the growth of K. pneumoniae. The hypopharyngeal lesion completely regressed after 2 weeks of antibiotic treatment. Clinicians should perform biopsy along with tissue culture for tumor-like lesions because infectious agents can lead to lesions with malignancy-like appearance.