Taste intensity performance in patients irradiated to the head and neck

Decrements in taste-detection thresholds during radiotherapy and subsequent recovery in the months after therapy are well documented. However, few studies have explored suprathreshold taste intensity perception in radiation patients. This cross-sectional study compared taste function in 15 men postradiation with a group of 23 healthy, nonirradiated male volunteers. A direct-scaling procedure was used to assess taste intensity perception of the four basic taste qualities. Patients performed nearly as well as control subjects on objective measures of suprathreshold functioning. Postradiation intensity judgments of salty (sodium chloride), sweet (sucrose), and bitter (quinine sulfate) solutions were not significantly reduced. Subtle, age-related taste impairments were identified for sour perception (citric acid) postradiotherapy. Younger patients judged citric acid to be more intense than did age-appropriate control subjects, whereas older patients judged it to be less intense. Moreover, younger patients were likely to be midly dysgeusic, whereas older patients appeared to be hypogeusic for citric acid. This study provides evidence for near normal suprathreshold taste intensity perception in patients who have received head and neck irradiation.