Malacoplakia of the vallecula masquerading as a malignancy

Abstract

Malacoplakia is an unusual chronic granulomatous inflammation that commonly occurs in the urinary tract. It is rarely encountered in the head and neck region, and only a handful of such cases have been described. We report a case of malacoplakia in a 50-year-old woman who presented with a mass in the vallecula that was clinically suspected of being malignant. This case illustrates the importance of recognizing this unusual benign lesion, which closely mimics a malignancy on clinical examination.