Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practice of Clinicians Regarding Dysgeusia as a Complication of (Chemo) Radiotherapy

To examine the current knowledge, attitudes, and everyday practice of specialists and residents treating patients with head and neck tumors about dysgeusia that developed due to chemoradiotherapy.

Specialists and residents treating oncologic patients with head and neck tumors were distributed anonymous questionnaires, available in both physical and online formats via Google Forms. The research was authorized under the ethics protocol number 05-PA-2-5/25.

In this study, 89 respondents (mean age 39.4 ± 11.3 years) participated, comprising 62.9% men and 31.7% women, with 13.1 ± 10.8 years of work experience. A total of 36.0% of respondents were not familiar with dysgeusia at the time of their study, and 33.7% of them were not educated about dysgeusia as a complication of chemoradiotherapy. Also, 23.6% of respondents are unfamiliar with the fact that effective therapy for dysgeusia has not yet been discovered. Only 9% of respondents agreed, and 2.3% of them strongly agreed, that verified, professional information about dysgeusia is easily available. A total of 3.6% of respondents reported that they sometimes successfully treat dysgeusia with zinc supplementation, 10.1% of them reported 'usually', and 3.4% of them 'always'.

Doctors who treat oncological patients often lack specific basic knowledge, attitudes, and approaches to patients in everyday practice, which vary from doctor to doctor. To ensure a high-quality approach for the patients mentioned, it is necessary to expand research on dysgeusia and improve access to professional literature.