Giant cell arteritis of the tongue presenting as macroglossia

While the tongue has been noted to be involved in giant cell arteritis, there are no recorded instances in which the disease has been confined to the tongue. We describe a patient who presented with macroglossia and was found to have a necrotizing vasculitis with giant cells on lingual biopsy. No other evidence for systemic vasculitis was detected. This is the first case report of an isolated vasculitis of the tongue.