Yamashita Hideomi, Nakagawa Keiichi, Tago Masao, Nakamura Naoki, Shiraishi Kenshiro, Eda Momoe, Nakata Hiroki, Nagamatsu Nami, Yokoyama Rika, Onimura Mayuko, Ohtomo Kuni
Department of Radiology, University of Tokyo Hospital, 7-3-1, Hongo, Tokyo, 113-8655 Japan.
Head Neck. 2006 Jun;28(6):508-16. doi: 10.1002/hed.20347.
Taste loss is a major cause of morbidity in patients undergoing head and neck irradiation.
In a prospective study, 51 patients undergoing radical head and neck irradiation at the Tokyo University Hospital were assessed for taste loss. Taste ability was measured by the taste threshold for the four basic tastes (sweet, sour, salt, and bitter qualities) plus another taste of "umami" quality using a filter-paper-disc method in patients before, during, and after radiotherapy (RT).
All tastes declined on the fifth week after the start of RT and improved on the 11th week. Anatomic pathologic analyses in rats revealed that taste buds diminished completely on the sixth day after irradiation of 15 Gy in a single fraction, and the appearance of taste buds returned almost to the preirradiation state on the 28th day.
The main cause of taste disorder resulting from RT was believed to be a disappearance of taste buds and not damage to the taste nerves.
味觉丧失是接受头颈部放疗患者发病的主要原因。
在一项前瞻性研究中，对东京大学医院51例接受根治性头颈部放疗的患者进行味觉丧失评估。采用滤纸片法在放疗前、放疗期间及放疗后对患者的四种基本味觉（甜味、酸味、咸味和苦味）以及另一种鲜味味觉的味觉阈值进行测量，以评估味觉能力。
放疗开始后第5周所有味觉均下降，第11周有所改善。大鼠的解剖病理学分析显示，单次照射15 Gy后第6天味蕾完全消失，第28天味蕾外观几乎恢复到照射前状态。
放疗导致味觉障碍的主要原因被认为是味蕾消失而非味觉神经损伤。
