Nasopharyngeal Tuberculosis in a Philippine Tertiary General Hospital

Objective:  This study aimed to determine the prevalence of nasopharyngeal tuberculosis among patients who were initially assessed to have a nasopharyngeal mass and subsequently underwent biopsy in a Philippine Tertiary General Hospital from 2013 to 2015.   Methods:  Design: Case Series Setting:           Tertiary National University Hospital Participants: All patients with nasopharyngeal mass identified from January 2013 to December 2015 from a hospital wide census who underwent biopsy were investigated using chart and histopathology review. The prevalence of tuberculosis, malignancies and other findings were determined.   Results:  Among 285 nasopharyngeal biopsies done between 2013 and 2015, 33 (11.6%) were histologically compatible with nasopharyngeal tuberculosis, 177 (62.1%) were different types of nasopharyngeal carcinoma, 59 (20.7%) were chronic inflammation, 4 (1.4%) were lymphoma, 5 (1.8%) were normal, and 7 (2.5 %) had diagnoses other than those above.   Conclusion: This study suggests a relatively high prevalence rate (11.6%) of nasopharyngeal tuberculosis in patients who have a nasopharyngeal mass. This indicates that nasopharyngeal tuberculosis should always be a differential when confronted with a mass in the nasopharynx especially in tuberculosis endemic areas.   Keywords: nasopharyngeal tuberculosis; prevalence; censuses; tertiary care centers; Philippines; carcinoma; nasopharynx; biopsy; tuberculosis; lymphoma