Impairment of taste in the Guillain-Barré syndrome

Involvement of those cranial nerves subserving taste is common in the Guillain-Barré syndrome, yet seldom reported are disturbances of taste. This may reflect relative sparing of taste fibers, which are small thinly myelinated fibers. However, the true incidence of taste disturbances in GBS is probably underestimated since formal taste testing is often not performed, particularly in those cases where patients have been intubated. We observed two patients with GBS and abnormalities of taste. Disturbances of taste are often neglected clinically and the clinical evaluation of taste has been hampered by lack of standardization of stimuli and lack of quantification of responses.