Sublingual varices are not unusual

doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7560.202

BMJ 2006;333:202 (22 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.333.7560.202

Letter

Sublingual varices are not unusual

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—The picture case by Nasir et al in Minerva is indanger of giving a false impression.¹ Sublingual varices arenot unusual. They are common, and a common clinical finding(if in doubt, just ask your dentist).² Their prevalence increaseswith age, with surveys indicating that they are present in upto 60% of elderly patients, in both sexes, and in differentpopulation groups.^2-4

Haemoptysis has once been reported due to bleeding from varicesat the base of the tongue, associated with portal hypertension,but a textbook and Medline search for spontaneous haemorrhagefrom sublingual varices does not show any similar reported casesto that described.⁵ The advice given that sublingual varicescan cause subtle and potentially dangerous bleeding is basedon negligible evidence. It would be unfortunate if the casedepicted induced a growth of unnecessary cauterisation of sublingualvarices and misled clinicians from searching for the . . . [Full text of this article]