Diagnostic Considerations

Also consider the following:

Vasculitis
Neoplastic disease (eg, lymphoma)
Extranodal Rosai-Dorfman disease
Nasal polyposis ^[27]
Atrophic rhinitis ^[28]
Extranodal natural killer/T-cell lymphoma ^[29]

Infectious granulomatous processes may include those caused by bacteria (tuberculosis, actinomycosis, syphilis, leprosy), fungi (histoplasmosis, blastomycosis, paracoccidioidomycosis, sporotrichosis), and parasites (mucocutaneous leishmaniasis).

Rhinoscleroma can mimic various inflammatory and neoplastic processes, including leprosy, paracoccidioidomycosis, sarcoidosis, basal cell carcinoma, and Wegener granulomatosis. Rhinoscleroma should be added to the list of opportunistic infections that can occur in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus.

Granulomatous lesions of the craniofacial area are common. These lesions vary in nature. They can be lymphohistiocytic with or without eosinophils; they can be tuberculoid with epithelioid cells and giant cells; or, occasionally, they are composed of essentially giant cells. The etiology of these lesions may be known or easy to discern. Their causes include foreign body granulomas, sarcoidosis, leprosy, rhinoscleroma, fungal diseases (especially zygomycosis and rhinosporidiosis^[30]), parasitic diseases, and cocaine-induced midline destructive erosions.^[31]

Lethal midline granuloma is a clinical entity characterized by a necrotic and relentlessly progressive destructive presentation. After a malignant process (especially lymphoid) and Wegener granulomatosis are eliminated from the differentials, the diagnosis is idiopathic midline nonhealing granuloma. Some lesions remain in the facial area, whereas others disseminate as a malignant disease.

Central giant cell granuloma and histiocytosis X (especially eosinophilic granuloma) are 2 other varieties of granuloma that differ from the aforementioned granulomatous infiltrates in their clinical presentation and evolution.

Rhinoscleroma and Rosai-Dorfman disease can rarely coexist; both have a predilection for the respiratory tract and cervical lymph nodes, a protracted courses in younger individuals, biclonal plasma cell infiltrates, and distinctive histiocytes.^[32]Distinction is important since therapy is different.

Differential Diagnoses

Workup

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Media Gallery

Very high magnification micrograph of rhinoscleroma. Hematoxylin and eosin stain. Silver staining demonstrates the presence of microorganisms consistent with Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis. Courtesy of Nephron (own work), via Wikimedia Commons.

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Author

Robert A Schwartz, MD, MPH Professor and Head of Dermatology, Professor of Pathology, Professor of Pediatrics, Professor of Medicine, Rutgers New Jersey Medical School

Robert A Schwartz, MD, MPH is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Academy of Dermatology, New York Academy of Medicine, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Coauthor(s)

Egle Goriniene, MD Staff Physician, Department of Infectious Diseases, New Jersey Medical School

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Specialty Editor Board

David F Butler, MD Former Section Chief of Dermatology, Central Texas Veterans Healthcare System; Professor of Dermatology, Texas A&M University College of Medicine; Founding Chair, Department of Dermatology, Scott and White Clinic

David F Butler, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Academy of Dermatology, Association of Military Dermatologists, Phi Beta Kappa, Texas Dermatological Society

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Jeffrey P Callen, MD Professor of Medicine (Dermatology), Chief, Division of Dermatology, University of Louisville School of Medicine

Jeffrey P Callen, MD is a member of the following medical societies: Alpha Omega Alpha, American Academy of Dermatology, American College of Physicians, American College of Rheumatology

Disclosure: Received income in an amount equal to or greater than $250 from: Biogen US (Adjudicator for study entry cutaneous lupus erythematosus); Priovant (Adjudicator for entry into a dermatomyositis study); IQVIA (Serono - adjudicator for a study of cutaneous LE) <br/>Received honoraria from UpToDate for author/editor; Received royalty from Elsevier for book author/editor; Received dividends from trust accounts, but I do not control these accounts, and have directed our managers to divest pharmaceutical stocks as is fiscally prudent from Stock holdings in various trust accounts include some pharmaceutical companies and device makers for these trust accounts for: Stocks held in various trust accounts: Allergen; Amgen; Pfizer; 3M; Johnson and Johnson; Merck; Abbott Laboratories; AbbVie; Procter and Gamble;; Celgene; Gilead; CVS; Walgreens; Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Chief Editor

Dirk M Elston, MD Professor and Chairman, Department of Dermatology and Dermatologic Surgery, Medical University of South Carolina College of Medicine

Dirk M Elston, MD is a member of the following medical societies: American Academy of Dermatology

Disclosure: Nothing to disclose.

Additional Contributors

Jacek C Szepietowski, MD, PhD Professor, Vice-Head, Department of Dermatology, Venereology and Allergology, Wroclaw Medical University; Director of the Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland

Disclosure: Received consulting fee from Orfagen for consulting; Received consulting fee from Maruho for consulting; Received consulting fee from Astellas for consulting; Received consulting fee from Abbott for consulting; Received consulting fee from Leo Pharma for consulting; Received consulting fee from Biogenoma for consulting; Received honoraria from Janssen for speaking and teaching; Received honoraria from Medac for speaking and teaching; Received consulting fee from Dignity Sciences for consulting; .

Rhinoscleroma Differential Diagnoses

Diagnostic Considerations

Differential Diagnoses

References

Tables

Contributor Information and Disclosures

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