Jha Nidhi, Speers Jed, Gastineau Lauren, Patel Shivani, Liu William, Pfahl Emily, Ramaswamy Apoorva, Zhao Kai
Department of Otolaryngology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
Nutrients. 2025 Mar 20;17(6):1087. doi: 10.3390/nu17061087.
Head and neck cancer affects millions worldwide. The risk factors are numerous, including smoking, alcohol consumption, and human papillomavirus to name a few. While improved preventative, diagnostic, and treatment methods have decreased mortality rates, the treatments (chemotherapy, radiotherapy, or surgery) often result in smell and/or taste impairments. These can impact quality of life during and after cancer treatment. A scoping review was performed to understand current research and future directions regarding smell and taste impairments in head and neck cancer patients. PRISMA guidelines were followed and Rayyan.ai was used to search and compile journal articles. Three databases, EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, and PubMed, were also searched. Search terms included smell, taste, dysgeusia, ageusia, hypogeusia, parosmia, anosmia, hyposmia, dysosmia, and head and neck cancer. A total of 1580 articles were found through Rayyan.ai and 8022 were found through the three databases, which were manually screened. Articles assessing patients with a different malignancy, benign tumors, pediatric populations, animal studies, abstracts, and review articles were excluded. A total of 47 articles were found using this strategy. Of those we identified, 37 articles discussed taste impairments, 12 articles discussed smell impairments, and 3 articles discussed treatments for smell and/or taste impairments. All 37 articles concluded that there was some taste alteration in head and neck cancer patients due to their treatment. However, the specific taste qualities (sweet, sour, salty, or bitter) that were impaired, whether taste function returned to baseline, and which treatments led to impairments varied. For the 12 studies that assessed smell impairments, the results also varied. Some studies found significant objective impairments in smell while others found no significant impairment. Zinc sulfate was not found to be an effective treatment option for taste impairments; however, a liposomal spray showed some potential. Future studies should aim to understand which treatments and types of head and neck cancer lead to chemosensory impairments, whether chemosensory alterations negatively impact a patient's nutritional status, and treatments or preventative measures for smell and taste changes.
头颈癌在全球范围内影响着数百万人。其风险因素众多，包括吸烟、饮酒以及人乳头瘤病毒等等。虽然改进后的预防、诊断和治疗方法已降低了死亡率，但这些治疗方法（化疗、放疗或手术）常常会导致嗅觉和/或味觉障碍。这会对癌症治疗期间及之后的生活质量产生影响。我们进行了一项范围综述，以了解关于头颈癌患者嗅觉和味觉障碍的当前研究及未来方向。我们遵循了PRISMA指南，并使用Rayyan.ai来搜索和整理期刊文章。我们还搜索了三个数据库，即EBSCOhost、谷歌学术和PubMed。搜索词包括嗅觉、味觉、味觉障碍、嗅觉丧失、味觉减退、嗅觉倒错、嗅觉缺失、嗅觉减退、嗅觉障碍以及头颈癌。通过Rayyan.ai共找到1580篇文章，通过这三个数据库共找到8022篇文章，这些文章均经过人工筛选。评估患有其他恶性肿瘤、良性肿瘤的患者、儿科人群、动物研究、摘要和综述文章被排除。使用该策略共找到47篇文章。在我们确定的文章中，37篇讨论了味觉障碍，12篇讨论了嗅觉障碍，3篇讨论了嗅觉和/或味觉障碍的治疗方法。所有37篇文章均得出结论，由于治疗，头颈癌患者存在一些味觉改变。然而，受损的具体味觉特性（甜、酸、咸或苦）、味觉功能是否恢复到基线水平以及哪些治疗导致了味觉障碍各不相同。对于评估嗅觉障碍的12项研究，结果也各不相同。一些研究发现嗅觉存在显著的客观障碍，而另一些研究则未发现显著障碍。硫酸锌未被发现是治疗味觉障碍的有效选择；然而，一种脂质体喷雾剂显示出一些潜力。未来的研究应旨在了解哪些治疗方法和类型的头颈癌会导致化学感觉障碍、化学感觉改变是否会对患者的营养状况产生负面影响，以及针对嗅觉和味觉变化的治疗方法或预防措施。
