Taste function after section of chorda tympani nerve in middle ear surgery.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate prospectively the clinical manifestations and the functional recovery of taste after section of chorda tympani nerve (CTN) during middle ear surgery, the subjective and objective study on the patients was performed.


METHODS
Thirty-five patients underwent surgery with unilateral (n=32) or bilateral (n=3) section of CTN between January 2000 and April 2002. The patients were asked about taste symptoms before surgery and 2 weeks and 2 years after surgery. The CTN function was also measured with electrogustometry (EGM) at the same time points.


RESULTS
In unilateral section of CTN, 19/32 (59.4%) complained of taste disorder and 11/32 (34.4%) tongue numbness. Most of these taste symptoms disappeared within 2 years although the EGM threshold did not recover. 16/17 patients (94.1%) who used to cook everyday had little difficulty in flavoring dishes. In bilateral section of CTN, the patients had no problem of taste at 2 years after surgery, either.


CONCLUSIONS
These findings help explain the potential complications to the patients before surgery, although the number of cases was small in this series.
Nin
Tomomi
T
Department of Otolaryngology, Hyogo College of Medicine, Mukogawa, Nishinomiya City, Hyogo 663-8501, Japan.
Sakagami
Masafumi
M
Sone-Okunaka
Mieko
M
Muto
Toshihiko
T
Mishiro
Yasuo
Y
Fukazawa
Keijiro
K
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D018424:Cholesteatoma, Middle Ear / Q000601:surgery; D002814:Chorda Tympani Nerve / Q000601:surgery*; D004432:Ear, Middle / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D006987:Hypesthesia / Q000209:etiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010033:Otitis Media / Q000601:surgery; D011183:Postoperative Complications; D011446:Prospective Studies; D020127:Recovery of Function; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013651:Taste Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D014059:Tongue / Q000294:innervation