Impact of Early Surgical Intervention on Recovery of Gustatory Function in Patients with Chronic Otitis Media

Chronic otitis media is inflammation of mucoperiosteal lining of medial ear cleft which leads to bacterial colonization which inturn releases enzymes and toxins. Chorda tympani have an unprotected course in the middle ear running across the tympanic cavity from its posterior to anterior wall, supplying anterior two third of tongue making it easily amendable to the enzymes, cytokines and bacterial toxins released in the middle ear reflecting in its function. In this survey we have studied the impact of early surgical intervention on chorda tympani nerve's function in patients with chronic otitis media. In this study we included 90patients with COM fit for surgical intervention who were divided into 3groups based on the duration of the disease as < 5 years, 5-10 years and > 10 years. Each group were evaluated for 5different taste sensations over the anterior 2/3rd of tongue bilaterally by assigning a score of 0-15 preoperatively, 2 weeks postoperative and 8 weeks postoperatively and scores compared. It was noted that left side preponderance for the disease was more than right with a male predominance of 54.4%. Patients with history for < 5 years showed better improvement curve during postoperative follow-up when compared with the other two groups and least improvement noticed in the group with COM history for > 10 years.Similarly participants with more duration of dry ear showed better results. Early surgical intervention can prevent further deterioration of the nerve function and helps in achieving its complete recovery.