title: Klebsiella pneumoniae pharyngitis mimicking malignancy: a diagnostic dilemma.
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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otolaryngology, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, No. 201, Sec. 2, Shipai Rd, Taipei, 11217, Taiwan, R.O.C.
authors.forename: C-F
authors.initials: CF
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: W-Y
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Y-B
authors.initials: YB
authors.lastname: Hsu
mesh_terms: D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007710:Klebsiella Infections / Q000175:diagnosis*; D007711:Klebsiella pneumoniae / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010612:Pharyngitis / Q000175:diagnosis*