Why do some COVID-19 patients get swollen tongues? A doctor in Houston searches for the answer

The condition is called macroglossia and makes it impossible for patients who suffer from it to eat or speak; all those affected were intubated with COVID – 19 before developing macroglossia

Photo: UT Health School of Dentistry / Courtesy

HOUSTON – Doctors in Houston are trying to find the reason why some people who have been hospitalized with COVID – 19 developed a very rare condition that causes their tongues to enlarge massively.

The condition is called macroglossia and makes it impossible for patients who suffer from it , can eat or talk.

Dr. James Melville with the UT Health School of Dentistry has become a specialist treating the aforementioned condition. Melville has also already performed several surgeries that allowed patients to regain normal use of their tongues.

The first cases of macroglossia were reported last year during the months of fall season.

Dr. Melville said that two cases were reported in the United States during the fall of 1200, but since then she has learned of seven other cases.

The doctor pointed out that the nine patients were intubated in the hospital. Of the nine, eight are African-American people. All were hospitalized with COVID – 19 before developing macroglossia.

Melville commented that patients who managed to survive COVID – 19 developed inflammatory cells in the tissue of their tongues, indicating that some of the virus makes some people more prone to the rare condition.

“I think the condition has a lot to do with where the virus concentrates and the body’s immune system response to the virus,” said Melville.

The doctor conducts a study to determine if there is something common in the genes of patients who have suffered the condition.

If the doctors cannot find the answer at least They want to discover alternatives to prevent it.

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