Clinical Trial: Taste Disorders in Middle Ear Disease and After Middle Ear Surgery

Study Status: Not yet recruiting
Recruit Status: Unknown status
Study Type: Observational

Official Title: Taste Disorders in Middle Ear Disease and After Middle Ear Surgery

Brief Summary:

Objectives

To evaluate the impact of taste disturbance in different types of chronic middle ear diseases and after middle ear surgery.

Hypothesis

That patients with chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma has taste disturbance already before surgery due to the disease itself, of course depending on degree of the disease.

That patients with otosclerosis, has a normal nerve function before surgery.

That patients with normal taste before surgery are more likely to notices a taste disturbance.

That nerve in continuity after surgery, even if it is maltreated, gives less taste disturbance than a divided nerve.

Methods

A clinical study has been launched that measures taste function with two different methods for taste measurements, electrogustometry (EGM) and the filter paper disc method (FPD) before and after middle ear surgery in patients operated with middle ear surgery because of otosclerosis, chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma. The investigators plan to include 120 patients in this study.

A parallel study of the patients own experience of the symptom has also been launched were the patients answer a questionary and a quality of life document. The investigators plan to include 300 patients in this study.

A histological study where specimens of CTN from healthy ears and from ears with chronic disease will be investigated with electron microscopy has also started.

Detailed Summary:

Taste sensations are provided by three different nerves of which the chorda tympani nerve (CTN) is the major taste nerve. It innervates taste buds in the two anterior thirds of the tongue. The CTN location in the middle ear predisposes for trauma of the nerve. In various forms of middle ear pathology, such as chronic otitis and cholesteatoma the nerve can be affected by the pathologic process per se, since the nerve may become exposed to bacteria toxins, enzymes or mechanical damage. During middle ear surgery, it can be cut off, stretched, touched or dried out by the heat of the microscope light beam. The nerve function in these situations is not clarified. Is it for example better to cut the nerve than to leave it traumatized after surgery. Therefore previous reports on objective CTN function pre- and postoperatively unfortunate suffer from inadequate descriptions of ear disease that were studied. In order to elucidate these questions and to give the surgeon deeper knowledge about how to handle CTN during surgery a prospective study is initiated on patients to be operated on with primary middle ear surgery.

We believe that patients with chronic otitis media and cholesteatoma has taste disturbance already before surgery due to the disease itself, of course depending on degree of the disease, and that patients with otosclerosis has a normal nerve function before surgery. We also believe that patients with normal taste before surgery are more likely to notice a taste disturbance and that a nerve in continuity after surgery, even if it is maltreated, gives less taste disturbance than a divided nerve. Two methods of taste measuring are used in the study, Electrogustometry (EGM) and a Filter Paper Disc method (FPD). We have evaluated EGM regarding possible bias and artifacts as well as the correlation regarding results from the two methods.

Taste disturbance postoperative will be measured with electrogustometry, filter paper disc methode and symptom questionnaire before surgery and at four times after surgery up till one year poatoperative.