Secondary Syphilis of the Pharynx and Larynx

Abstract

A 47-year-old male with secondary syphilis is reported. He had been misdiagnosed as having laryngeal carcinoma (squamous cell carcinoma) by punch out biopsy of right arytenoid.
He had no symptom of the throat, but was followed up for multiple leukoplakia of the pharynx and larynx, which was pointed out at another clinic and he recieved a biopsy. Then he was referred to our clinic for treatment. Serum syphilitic reaction at the admission revealed titers of 1: 64 by the glass plate method,1: 128 by the agglutination, and 1: 1280 by TPHA. He had no abnormality in the genitals or body surface.
Of 13 syphilis cases (J an,1985-May,1986; Onomichi General Hospital),7patients have no symptomatic. We concluded that nonsymptomatic syphilis, on the increase, should be discovered through various methods, such as pre-operative examination, other various medical examinations, and doctors' intensive observations.