Jpn. J. Infect. Dis., 57, 124-126, 2004

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Short Communication

Mediastinal Lymphadenopathy due to Mycobacterial Infection

Mehmet Meral*, Metin Akgun, Hasan Kaynar, Arzu Mirici, Metin Gorguner, Leyla Saglam and Fazli Erdogan¹

Department of Chest Diseases and ¹Department of Pathology,
Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, Erzurum, Turkey

(Received November 10, 2003. Accepted April 12, 2004)

*Corresponding author: Mailing address: Chest Diseases Department, Faculty of Medicine, Ataturk University, 25240 Erzurum, Turkey. Tel: +90-442-3166333 ext. 2034, Fax: +90-442-3166340, E-mail: mehmetmeral69@yahoo.com

SUMMARY: Tuberculous lymphadenitis without pulmonary manifestation is an uncommon entity in developed countries, and the possibility of tuberculous infection is usually ignored in the differential diagnosis of lymphadenopathy. Therefore, appropriate treatment may be delayed. Paralysis of the recurrent laryngeal nerve caused by mediastinal lymphadenopathy due to tuberculosis is an extremely rare condition. In this paper, we present a patient who had vocal cord paralysis caused by tuberculous lymphadenopathy of the superior mediastinum. After anti-tuberculosis treatment, vocal cord function was only partially recovered, while the clinical, radiological, and laboratory abnormalities were completely recovered.

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