Abstract
Objectives
1) To identify gustatory alterations due to chorda tympani nerve involvement in patients with chronic otitis media (COM) without prior surgery, and 2) To see if the presence of cholesteatoma worsened gustatory sensitivity in these patients.
Methods
Study Design: prospective study. The test was performed in patients with unilateral cholesteatomatous or suppurated COM not previously submitted to otological surgery. The test was based on “taste strips” with different concentrations of salt, sweet, bitter, and sour, using the otological disease-free side as the control. The score could be between 0 (worst) and 16 (best). All the other data were collected by interview and physical exam and analysed by Poisson Regression.
Results
A total of 45 patients with COM were evaluated, including 25 with cholesteatoma and 20 with non-cholesteatomatous COM, with a mean age of 38 years. 8 cases of unilateral ageusia were found on the affected side. The mean score was 6.65 for the affected side and 9.91 for the half of the tongue on the side of the healthy ear (p<0,05). No patients had complained of gustatory alterations before the examination. There was an association between presence of cholesteatoma and worse gustatory sensitivity (p<0.05).
Conclusions
Patients with cholesteatomatous or suppurated COM can present gustatory alterations, even in the absence of complaints. The presence of cholesteatoma worsened gustatory sensitivity.
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