ORCID

0000-0002-4627-6403 (Pu), 0000-0002-8831-1086 (Mark), 0000-0003-0060-1087 (Rubinstein)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.1155/crot/2673365

Publication Title

Case Reports in Otolaryngology

Volume

2026

Pages

2673365

Abstract

Within the aerodigestive tract, syphilis presents with varied signs and symptoms, some of which may mimic malignancy or other disease processes. We present the case of a 29-year-old man with otalgia and odynophagia who was found on physical examination and office laryngoscopy to have a 4-cm ulcerative mass of the tongue base and cervical lymphadenopathy. While planning for tissue diagnosis, the patient’s serologies revealed positive treponemal antibody testing and elevated rapid plasma reagin (RPR) titers, confirming syphilitic infection, likely representing secondary syphilis. While awaiting operative biopsy, the patient received intramuscular penicillin with complete resolution of the mass and symptoms, and ultimately operative intervention was deferred. While planning for biopsy of suspicious head and neck lesions, clinicians should consider infectious disease workups in patients with risk factors.

Rights

© 2026 Serena F. Pu et al.

This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Data Availability

Article states: "The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions."

Original Publication Citation

Pu, S. F., Carlson, K. J., Mark, J. R., & Rubinstein, B. J. (2026). Oropharyngeal syphilis presenting as tongue base ulcer with lymphadenopathy. Case Reports in Otolaryngology, 2026, Article 2673365. https://doi.org/10.1155/crot/2673365

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