Tuberculosis of The Parotid Gland in Children - A Report of 4 Cases

Abstract

Tuberculosis is a chronic granulomatous infection caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis or bovis that can affect all organs. However being located in the salivary glands is rare, affecting mainly adults between 20 and 50 years, although a few cases were described in children. We reported a series of 4 children with parotid TB diagnosed and treated at the ENT department of the hospital of specialties of Rabat. The average age was 9.25 years and sex ratio M/F was 1. All children were admitted for parotid swelling evolving over an average period of 6 months which fistulized afterwards, a child had also facial paralysis. Histological analysis of the fine-needle aspiration or the sample taken from the fistula confirmed the diagnosis of tuberculosis with the presence of giant cell granuloma with caseous necrosis. All children received anti-bacillary treatment during 6 months, and showed good evolution. Although being rare, the parotid TB in children remains a condition to be considered at the occurrence of any chronic parotid swelling, especially in endemic countries.

Tuberculosis of the parotid gland in an eight year old boy

“…Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) and May-Grunwald Giemsa (MGG) stained cytosmears revealed epithelioid cell clusters and occasional _________________________________________ Patient was treated with the daily regimen of isoniazid (5 mg/kg/day), rifampicin (10 mg/kg/day), pyrazinamide (25-35 mg/kg/day), and ethambutol (15-25 mg/kg/day) for the first 2 months followed by isoniazid and rifampicin for Discussion There are only around 100 cases of parotid TB reported in the literature and most of these have been diagnosed by histology, after parotidectomy 1 . Most of these cases have been in adults but a few cases have been reported in children 3,4 . Parotid TB is usually unilateral but may rarely be bilateral 5 .…”