Landis B N, Beutner D, Frasnelli J, Hüttenbrink K B, Hummel T
Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Smell and Taste Clinic, University of Dresden Medical School, Dresden, Germany.
Laryngoscope. 2005 Jun;115(6):1124-7. doi: 10.1097/01.MLG.0000163750.72441.C3.
Changes of gustatory function after ear surgery have been studied extensively. However, little is known on the influence of repeated/chronic inflammation within the middle ear on taste.
Prospective study.
Forty-six patients suffering from either cholesteatoma (n = 25) or chronic otitis media mesotympanalis (n = 21) received quantitative gustatory tests. None of these patients had been operated on before these investigations.
Side by side comparison showed a significantly lower taste function on the anterior two thirds of the tongue ipsilateral to the site of inflammation, regardless of the diagnosis. Further analyses exhibited a trend toward greater impairment in relation to the severity of the inflammatory process.
These data are proof that taste function changes in relation to chronic middle ear diseases. It further shows that many of these alterations go unnoticed by the patients.
耳部手术后味觉功能的变化已得到广泛研究。然而，关于中耳反复/慢性炎症对味觉的影响却知之甚少。
前瞻性研究。
46例患有胆脂瘤（n = 25）或慢性中鼓室中耳炎（n = 21）的患者接受了定量味觉测试。在这些调查之前，这些患者均未接受过手术。
并排比较显示，无论诊断如何，炎症部位同侧舌前三分之二的味觉功能明显较低。进一步分析显示，随着炎症过程的严重程度增加，味觉功能有更大受损的趋势。
这些数据证明味觉功能会因慢性中耳疾病而发生变化。这进一步表明，许多此类变化患者并未注意到。
