Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria.
Acta Oncol. 2012 Apr;51(4):490-6. doi: 10.3109/0284186X.2011.633554. Epub 2011 Nov 30.
Taste alterations (TAs) are frequently reported by chemotherapy patients. However, research on this topic is very scarce. The etiologies of TAs are not fully known and prevalences may vary across tumour types and chemotherapy regimens. The aim of the present study was to longitudinally investigate TAs in patients with breast cancer or gynaecological cancers receiving chemotherapy, and to provide expected values for TAs for these patient populations.
One hundred and nine cancer patients (32.1% gynaecological cancer, 67.9% breast cancer) receiving chemotherapy at the Department for Internal Medicine of Kufstein County Hospital were consecutively included in the study. At each visit the Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30 and a screening scale for TAs, consisting of two validated questions taken from the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer item bank was administered. Statistical analysis was performed using mixed-effect models.
The prevalence of TAs in breast cancer and gynaecological cancer patients receiving chemotherapy was high (76.1%). There were differences in the extent of TAs as well as in their time course across treatment groups. The lowest TAs were found in breast cancer and gynaecological cancer patients treated with gemcitabine. The highest TAs were found in breast cancer patients treated with epirubicin/docetaxel/capecitabine. The steepest increase of TAs was found in patients treated with epirubicin/docetaxel. Moreover, significant associations between TAs and appetite loss as well as fatigue were found.
The results show that TAs are an issue in breast and gynaecological cancer patients receiving different chemotherapy regimens. There is a need for a more systematic investigation of TAs in chemotherapy patients in general as well as the need to address this issue in clinical practice.
味觉改变（TAs）经常在化疗患者中报告。然而，关于这个主题的研究非常有限。TAs 的病因尚不完全清楚，患病率可能因肿瘤类型和化疗方案而异。本研究的目的是纵向研究接受化疗的乳腺癌或妇科癌症患者的 TAs，并为这些患者人群提供 TAs 的预期值。
连续纳入库夫施泰因县医院内科接受化疗的 109 名癌症患者（32.1%妇科癌症，67.9%乳腺癌）。每次就诊时，均使用混合效应模型进行统计分析，采用生活质量问卷核心 30 项和味觉改变筛查量表进行评估，该量表由欧洲癌症研究与治疗组织（EORTC）项目库中的两个经过验证的问题组成。
接受化疗的乳腺癌和妇科癌症患者中 TAs 的患病率很高（76.1%）。在治疗组之间，TAs 的程度和时间过程存在差异。在接受吉西他滨治疗的乳腺癌和妇科癌症患者中，TAs 程度最低。在接受表柔比星/多西紫杉醇/卡培他滨治疗的乳腺癌患者中，TAs 程度最高。在接受表柔比星/多西紫杉醇治疗的患者中，TAs 的增加最为陡峭。此外，还发现 TAs 与食欲下降和疲劳之间存在显著关联。
结果表明，TAs 是接受不同化疗方案的乳腺癌和妇科癌症患者的一个问题。需要更系统地研究一般化疗患者的 TAs 问题，并在临床实践中解决这个问题。
