[Electrometric method of studying taste in brain diseases]

Disorders of the sense of taste were studied in 355 patients with craniocerebral pathology, among whom 70 had tumors of the acoustic nerve, 64 had a craniocerebral trauma, 60 had tumors of the cerebral hemispheres. The most coarse disorders with the loss of the sense of taste on the anterior 2/3 of the tongue were encountered in tumors of the acoustic nerve and in transverse infracture of the pyramid of the temporal bone. Longitudinal infractures of the pyramid usually cause a diminished sense of taste on the anterior 2/3 of the tongue in the acute period, with improvment of the taste in the late periods after the trauma. The test for the sense of taste on the anterior 2/3 of the tongue in tumors of the acoustic nerve, in infractures of the temporal bone pyramid, and in arachnoiditis of the cerebellopontine angle is one of the diagnostic methods. Electrogustometry makes it possible to detect the earliest disorders in the sense of taste and make a more precise diagnosis.