A Young Man With Tuberculosis in the Neck Soft Tissue: A Case Report

Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and curable disease. TB characteristically causes lung infections, giving rise to pulmonary TB. Many extra-pulmonary organs, including soft tissues, may also be affected, often resulting in non-specific clinical features that make disease diagnosis difficult. We present the case of a 28- year-old male who presented with a soft tissue mass in the left neck accompanied by local redness and tenderness for several months. Despite initially erroneous clinical judgment and imaging diagnosis, the progression of the patient's disease combined with a series of laboratory tests led to the diagnosis of soft tissue TB. After routine anti-TB treatment, the patient's condition gradually recovered. This case highlights that when faced with atypical soft tissue lesions, physicians should maintain a high level of TB suspicion to avoid delaying the treatment of the patient's disease and producing a poor prognosis.