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Taste Dysfunction in MS

Correlating taste with lesion volume and number

Publish date:: February 2, 2016

A sizable number of patients with MS exhibit taste deficits that are associated with MS-related lesions throughout the brain, according to a study of 73 patients with MS and 73 matched controls. Researchers found:

Taste identification scores were significantly lower in the patients with MS for sucrose, citric acid, caffeine, and NaCl and were present in both anterior and posterior tongue regions.

The percentage of patients with MS with identification scores below the 5^th percentile of controls was 15.07% for caffeine, 21.9% for citric acid, 24.66% for sucrose, and 31.50% for NaCl.

Such scores were inversely correlated with lesion volumes in the temporal, medial frontal, and superior frontal lobes, and with the number of lesions in the left and right superior frontal lobes, right anterior cingulate gyrus, and left parietal operculum.

Regardless of group, women outperformed men on taste measures.

Citation: Doty RL, Tourbier IA, Pham DL, et al. Taste dysfunction in multiple sclerosis. [Published online ahead of print January 25, 2016]. J Neurol. doi: 10.1007/s00415-016-8030-6.

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