The present study investigated the clinical characteristics and diagnosis of modern laryngeal tuberculosis (TB). A total of 61 patients that were pathologically diagnosed with laryngeal TB between 1998 and 2012 were retrospectively analyzed using laryngoscopy methods. The primary symptoms of laryngeal TB observed in the present study include hoarseness and sore throat, and in the majority of cases, laryngeal TB was not associated with pulmonary TB (ratio 41/61, 67.2%). Systemic symptoms included low‑grade fever and night sweats, which were rarely observed (20/61, 32.8%). Laryngoscopy results were summarized into 3 types: Edema type (24 cases), proliferation type (34 cases) and ulcer exudation type (3 cases). The positive rate of purified protein derivative (PPD) examination was 86.9%, which was 63.9% for sputum bacterium analysis. Pathological analysis indicated that there were a large number of phagocytes and giant cell reactions, stroma hyperplasia of epithelioid cells, and the Langhans cells constituted of granuloma and necrotic tissue, with caseous necrosis as a typical manifestation. Modern laryngeal TB is characterized by severe local symptoms like hoarseness and sore throat and mild systemic symptoms like fever and night sweat, and the diagnosis is based on patient history, laryngoscopy analysis, and PPD and sputum bacteria examinations used in combination. However, pathological biopsies and acid‑fast bacilli examinations are required for the final diagnosis.

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