NRS docs cure cancer patient of rare 'hairy tongue disease'

kolkata: NRS Medical College and Hospital has cured an elderly patient, who developed 'black hairy tongue' disease as a side effect of cancer treatment.

A sexagenarian from North 24-Parganas' Sodepur had been suffering from throat cancer for a while and he had undergone radiation. As a result, he was unable to swallow solid food. He had to completely depend on liquid food. He could not wash his tongue for a long time. As a result, he had developed some bacterial infection in his tongue. His tongue soon turned hairy due to the infection. According to the doctors, it is not a common phenomenon. "Hair does not normally grow on somebody's tongue. There are four papillae in the tongue. They are filiform papillae, fungiform papillae, circumvallate papillae and foliate papillae. Papillae keeps the tongue wet. Following radiation due to cancer, the wetness of the patient's tongue gets reduced gradually," said a senior physician Dr G Mukherjee.

The patient has undergone treatment at the hospital. He has been urged to consume more water. The patient has also been requested to gargle water. His condition improved and the doctors said that he will be cured in 4-8 weeks.

The patient was initially brought to the outpatient department of the NRS Medical College and Hospital where the junior doctors were perplexed.

The expert doctors later saw the patient and came to a conclusion that he has been suffering from 'black hairy tongue'. They also took help from various medical journals.