A case with palatal presentation of scleroma is presented due to its rarity and unusual manifestations. The patient presented with only palatal symptoms. Nasal endoscopy revealed signs of all three stages of scleroma: catarrhal, granulomatous and sclerotic stages. Histopathology was vital in the diagnosis. The patient was treated by medical therapy, and palatal symptoms were relieved by uvulopalatopharyngoplasty.

Respiratory scleroma (often termed ‘rhinoscleroma’) is a chronic inflammatory condition in which deforming masses of tissue distend the nasal cavity. Klebsiella rhinoscleromatis is the causative agent of this infection and the Mikulicz cell is specific to the lesion being a large macrophage with clear cytoplasm containing the bacilli.

Antibiotic therapy has traditionally consisted of streptomycin and tetracycline long-term but this presents problems with adverse side-effects and poor patient compliance.

We report on a young patient with nasal rhinoscleroma who achieved resolution after treatment with oral ciprofloxacin. As mentioned in a review of patients with rhinoscleroma at the Mayo clinic in 1993, the fluoroquinolones deserve further study as potentially highly effective agents for this condition. Ciprofloxacin is convenient for oral administration and has few adverse effects. It achieves good tissue penetration, is concentrated in macrophages and may prove to be useful in the therapy of rhinoscleroma.

Rhinoscleroma is a chronic specific granulomatous inflammatory condition that has an affinity with the mucosa of the upper respiratory tract. Involvement of the eustachian tube is uncommon. In the present study nasopharyngoscopy was performed in 20 patients with rhinoscleroma to find out the type, nature and site of the lesion at the orifices of the eustachian tube. A lesion involving the eustachian tube was found in six cases (30 per cent). Lesions occurred in the form of atrophic changes with crusting, granuloma and fibrotic thick areas. Involvement of the eustachian tube was found to be associated with intranasal scleroma and was more common at the granulomatous stage. Eustachian tube scleroma had a possible association with subsequent changes in the tympanogram pattern. Nasopharyngoscopy was found to be of therapeutic value in removing the crust, discharge and granulations at the eustachian tube orifices.

Twenty cases suffering from rhinoscleroma were studied. Bronchoscopy was performed for detection of secondary involvement of the subglottic region, trachea and bronchus. The study revealed that the larynx was involved in 40 per cent, the trachea in 20 per cent and the bronchus in 10 per cent of cases. The intranasal lesion, endotracheal and endobroncheal lesions all occur in the form of an atrophic stage, granulomatous (proliferative) stage and finally a fibrotic or scarring stage. The role of bronchoscopy in early diagnosis, initial symptomatic treatment and in follow-up is discussed in the light of the available literature.

Twenty patients with medically treated rhinoscleroma and residual ethmoidal manifestations were examined using CT scanning. Cases with positive radiological data of the ethmoids underwent diagnostic and therapeutic nasal endoscopy.

It has been found that ethmoidal scleroma is not as rare a condition as was previously thought. The diagnostic and therapeutic value of nasal endoscopy in ethmoidal scleroma is discussed.

This paper reports a characteristic radiological finding observed in seven cases of rhinoscleroma with nasal involvement. The soft palate exhibits a marked thickening at its attachment to the hard palate which tapers off towards its free edge. This new sign could be of help in the early diagnosis of this condition.