title: Head and Neck Tuberculosis: Scenario in a Tertiary Care Hospital of North Eastern India.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Tuberculosis has affected mankind since time immemorial and with emergence of AIDS both extrapulmonary and pulmonary tuberculosis presents increased morbidity and mortality along with an increased financial burden upon the developing nations.
  
  
  METHODS
  The study is a hospital based observational study of one year duration carried out in the Department of ENT in a tertiary care hospital of North Eastern India.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Total of 63 cases were detected. Females comprised 60.3% of the study population as against 39.7% males. Most commonly affected age group were of 15 to 24 years age (57.1%). Cervical tubercular lymphadenitis was the most common lesion 90.5% (57 cases) followed by laryngeal tuberculosis 7.9% (5 cases) and tubercular otitis media with mastoiditis 1.6% (1 case). Level II lymph node was mostly affected either single or in groups (75.4%) followed by level III node (57.9%). Successful outcome of the treatment with Category I regimen was achieved in 96.8% of the cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Head and neck tuberculosis is not an uncommon disease and though cervical lymphadenitis is the most common presentation, isolated involvement of the larynx, ear and other subsites are not an entirely unknown entity. The clinical presentation of tuberculosis of the head and neck region can be varied and often misleading. It is therefore important for the clinician to be aware of the condition and consider it in their differential diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, Sikkim Manipal Institute of Medical Sciences , Gangtok, India .
authors.forename: Soumyajit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Professor and Head, Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, Assam Medical College , Dibrugarh, India .
authors.forename: Debajit
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, Assam Medical College , Dibrugarh, India .
authors.forename: Uttal Taranga
authors.initials: UT
authors.lastname: Bhuyan
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Ear, Nose and Throat, Assam Medical College , Dibrugarh, India .
authors.forename: Nabajyoti
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saikia
keywords: Cervical lymphadenopathy; Laryngeal tuberculosis; Middle ear cleft; Nasopharynx