Tuberculosis of the parotid Gland: Three Case Report

In this study, the pathologic types of the tuberculosis of the parotid gland and the necessity of performing open biopsy in the cases who can not be diagnosed preoperatively were discussed in the three cases. Two of these cases were nodular (localized) type and the other was diffuse type. The diagnoses were established in the localized type and the other was diffuse type. The diagnoses were established in the localized type by extracapsular dissection and the diffuse type by open biopsy. In the parotid gland mass, minimal surgical approach is superficial parotidectomy and open biopsy or extracapcular dissection surgeries should not be performed routinely. The diagnosis of the parotid gland involvement with tuberculosis has traditionally been made after superficial parotidectomy, then applied medical therapy. Due to similarity to mucoepidermoid carcinoma and diffuse fibrosis was in the paranchymatous case, open biopsy was performed planning the surgery according to the histopathologic diagnosis. If the differential diagnosis cannot be made with fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in as these cases preoperatively, open biopsy can be performed for diagnosis.