Sign Up for a Free Account

This is an image preview.
Start a Free Account
to view the full image.

Sign Up for a Free Account For information on discounts, see Plans & Pricing

  • Nearly 3,000 illustrations, including video clips of neurologic disorders.

  • Every article is reviewed by our esteemed Editorial Board for accuracy and currency.

  • Full spectrum of neurology in 1,200 comprehensive articles.

  • Listen to MedLink on the go with Audio versions of each article.

Complete atrophic glossitis

Complete atrophic glossitis in a 46-year-old woman with the chief complaint of glossodynia for approximately 1 year. She denied any systemic diseases. Her serum levels of vitamin B12 and ferritin were 94 ng/L (normal range 180 to 914 ng/L) and 4.3 ng/mL (normal range 11.0–306.8 ng/mL), respectively. She was diagnosed with anemia based on a hemoglobin level of 10.8 g/dL (the cutoff value for a female is 11 g/dL). (A) Physical examination revealed complete tongue atrophy, with a glossy appearance. (B) Complete resolution after 1 month of supplement therapy. (C) The therapeutic effect was still evident during follow-up at 6 months. (Source: Chen GY, Tang ZQ, Bao ZX. Vitamin B12 deficiency may play an etiological role in atrophic glossitis and its grading: a clinical case-control study. BMC Oral Health 2022;22[1]:456. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International [CC BY 4.0] license, creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0.)

Related Article

Related Media

Associated Disorders

  • Alcohol-tobacco amblyopia
  • Cerebral vascular disease
  • Dementia
  • Depression
  • Developmental delay
  • Folate deficiency
  • Gastric resection
  • Glossitis
  • Imerslund-Grasbeck syndrome
  • Malabsorption
  • Megaloblastic anemia
  • Myelopathy
  • Optic neuropathy
  • Pernicious anemia
  • Polyneuropathy
  • Regional enteritis
  • Subacute combined degeneration of the spinal cord