title: [A man from Africa with a swelling in the head and neck region].
abstract: A general dental practitioner can, in the daily practice, be confronted with a patient with a swelling in the head and neck region. For such swellings an extensive differential diagnosis exists. Often such a swelling is caused by one or more enlarged lymph nodes due to a bacterial or viral infection. If a swelling in the head and neck region has been present for some time--longer than 4 weeks--then there is a considerable chance, especially in adults, that it is the result of the metastasizing of a malignancy, such as a squamous cell carcinoma in the oral mucosa or another mucosal site in the head and neck region. In addition to lymph node swellings resulting from a malignancy, diseases are now more frequently encountered which were previously uncommon in the Netherlands, due in part to the growing number of people with a non-Western ethnic background. Tuberculosis is such a rare disease, which can in the first instance express itself in the form of a lymph node swelling in the head and neck region.
authors.affiliation: Uit de afdeling Mondziekten, Kaak- en Aangezichtschirurgie/Orale Pathologie, VU medisch centrum/Academisch Centrum Tandheelkunde Amsterdam. kh.karagozoglu@vumc.nl
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Karagozoglu
authors.forename: S E J
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Eerenstein
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: van der Waal
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006257:Head / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008206:Lymphatic Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009164:Mycobacterium Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D009333:Neck / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology*