Publication:

Active pulmonary Koch’s in a locally advanced recurrent head and neck malignancy: a case report

Even though the global incidence of tuberculosis (TB) has been showing a declining trend every year, it is still a significant public health problem in India. On the other hand, cancer has also been the reason for considerable mortality and morbidity across this population. The incidence of TB has been reportedly increasing in patients with both pulmonary and non-pulmonary cancers. Incidence of pulmonary TB in head and neck malignancy is around 3.1% to 6.6%. We present a case history of 50 years old with locally advanced recurrent head and neck malignancy with active pulmonary Koch’s. The decision was to provide him supportive care and treating the infection was pragmatic in spite of expected delay in anti-cancer treatment. It is extremely important to come up with a proper protocol for the need of prophylactic treatment, detection and the concurrent treatment of both cancer and TB.