CYTOMEGALOVIRUS ULCERATION IN THE TONGUE OF AN ONCOLOGIC PATIENT

• Published in: Oral surgery, oral medicine, oral pathology and oral radiology Vol. 129; no. 1; pp. e122 - e123
• Main Authors: MIRANDA-SILVA, WANESSA, BRUNO, JÚLIA STEPHANIE, VILELA, RAFAEL SARLO, FONSECA, FELIPE PAIVA, FREGNANI, EDUARDO RODRIGUES
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 01.01.2020
• ISSN: 2212-4403; 2212-4411
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oooo.2019.06.534

Oncologic patients undergoing chemotherapy and during the immunosuppressive phase are more susceptible to the reactivation of viral infections from the family Herpesviridae. Oral ulcerations related to cytomegalovirus (CMV) are uncommon and rarely described in patients with solid tumors. A 65-year-old male patient under oncologic treatment because of a high-grade astrocytoma was admitted to our service complaining of pain on the right lateral border of the tongue with 5 weeks of evolution, without clinical improvement with topical corticosteroid use. Physical examination revealed an oval ulcerated lesion approximately 0.5 cm in diameter with necrotic center. An excisional biopsy was performed, and results showed areas of superficial ulceration, a chorion with lymphoplasmacytic inflammatory infiltrate, and presence of occasional endothelial and stromal cells with massive cytoplasm and nuclear inclusions with cytopathic effect by cytomegalovirus, confirmed by immunohistochemistry. The lesion completed healed after 15 days, and no further treatment was necessary.