Taste Disturbance and Its Recovery after Middle Ear Surgery

The chorda tympani nerve (CTN) controls taste in the anterior twothirds of the tongue on each side; it runs close to the annulus of the tympanic membrane, crossing the tympanic cavity between the incus and the malleus. The CTN is initially encountered at this location when elevating the annulus and it is frequently damaged by traction, stretching and cutting during surgical procedures (Figure 1). Because many surgeons considers hearing improvement to be the most important postoperative result, taste disturbance has rarely been focused on in the last four decades. In the present study, we examined the changes of CTN function before and after the middle ear surgery using electrogustometry (EGM).