title: Endobronchial tuberculosis: two case reports and review of the literature.
abstract: Endobronchial tuberculosis commonly affects young patients and presents as acute or insidious onset cough, wheeze, low grade fever, and constitutional symptoms. Although endobronchial lesions usually result in sputum positivity for acid fast bacilli (AFB), a false negative sputum or absence of radiological lesions may result in delayed diagnosis. On the other hand, sputum positivity with presence of signs on chest radiology may lead to consideration of parenchymal TB as the primary diagnosis and the coexistence of endobronchial lesions may be missed until sequelae of the latter ensue. Besides, in elderly patients, consideration of other differentials like malignancy and pneumonia may lead to misdiagnosis. Hence, bronchoscopy is essential for confirmation of endobronchial TB. We hereby report two cases of endobronchial TB which stress the importance of bronchoscopic diagnosis for timely institution of treatment and prevention of permanent sequelae, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, MSRIT Post, Bangalore, Karnataka 560054, India.
authors.forename: Anshum
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0407-7094
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Aneja
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, MSRIT Post, Bangalore, Karnataka 560054, India.
authors.forename: Uma Maheswari
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5144-4731
authors.initials: UM
authors.lastname: Krishnaswamy
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, MSRIT Post, Bangalore, Karnataka 560054, India.
authors.forename: Vijayashree
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Thyagaraj
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, MSRIT Post, Bangalore, Karnataka 560054, India.
authors.forename: Riyaz P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Moideen
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, M.S. Ramaiah Medical College, MSRIT Post, Bangalore, Karnataka 560054, India.
authors.forename: Mantha
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Satya Padmaja