title: Longitudinal Testing of Olfactory and Gustatory Function in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The aim of the study was to investigate changes of the olfactory and gustatory capacity in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
  
  
  METHODS
  20 MS patients were tested longitudinally for 3 years after initial testing. The Threshold Discrimination Identification test (TDI) was used for subjective olfactometry. Objective olfactometry was performed by registering olfactory evoked potentials (OEP) by EEG. The Taste Strip Test (TST) was used for gustatory testing.
  
  
  RESULTS
  45% of the patients showed olfactory dysfunction in the follow-up TDI test and 50% showed delayed OEP´s. 20% of the patients showed gustatory dysfunction on follow-up visit. The patients showed mild disease activity with 0,3 ± 0,5 relapses over the testing period and no significant change of their olfactory and gustatory capacity. The olfactory capacity for the discrimination of odors correlated inversely with the number of relapses (r = -0.5, p ≤ 0.05). The patients were aware of their olfactory deficit.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Olfactory and gustatory dysfunction is a symptom in MS patients and may be a useful parameter to estimate disease progression in MS patients. As the discrimination of odors is processed in higher central regions of the central nervous system (CNS), the results suggest that olfactory dysfunction could be due to CNS damage.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Florian Cornelius
authors.initials: FC
authors.lastname: Uecker
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Olze
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Experimental Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Department of Neurology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.|MSB - Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Hagen
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kunte
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gerz
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Önder
authors.initials: Ö
authors.lastname: Göktas
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Experimental Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Department of Neurology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Harms
authors.affiliation: Clinical and Experimental Multiple Sclerosis Research Center, Department of Neurology, Charité -Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
authors.forename: Felix Alexander
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Schmidt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005071:Evoked Potentials / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D000857:Olfaction Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds; D012903:Smell / Q000502:physiology*; D013651:Taste Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D055697:Taste Perception / Q000502:physiology*