Change of Taste and Sensory after Tonsillectomy and Laryngomicrosurgery

Yang, Jae Min; Choi, Dong Joon; Kim, Il Woo; Chang, Jai Hyuk; Kim, Beom Gyu; Kim, Yong Bok; Park, Il Seok

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Postoperative taste and sensory changes are regarded as unusual and minor complications of tonsillectomy and laryngomicrosurgery. This study aimed to identify incidence, cause, and duration of postoperative taste and sensory changes.
SUBJECTS AND METHOD
With 20 patients who underwent tonsillectomy and 20 patients who underwent laryngomicrosurgery, we have prospectively studied postoperative taste and sensory changes using questionnaires with regard to symptoms at 1(st), 7(th) , 14(th) and 28(th) days after the surgery. The thresholds of sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes were measured by spatial taste test. Also, we have checked pre-operatively and post-operatively about the serum level of zinc and copper.
RESULTS
Five patients (25%) who underwent tonsillectomy and 3 patients (15%) who underwent laryngomicrosurgery suffered from changes in tastes. Four patients (20%) and 5 patients (25%) showed the sensory change. Especially, the bitter taste threshold changed in the posterior tongue (p<0.05). Post-operative zinc deficiency was detected on 1 patient. Subjective taste and sensory change disappeared within 28 days. In spatial taste test, the threshold for bitter taste increased on the 1st post-operative day at the posterior tongue, but it returned almost to the preoperative level within 28days.
CONCLUSION
Taste and sensory change after tonsillectomy and laryngomicrosurgery are not unusual complications. If there were no neural damage, taste and sensory change were transient and disappeared within 28 days. The main cause of transient taste and sensory change seemed to be due to the compression of tongue, and sometimes, to postoperative zinc deficiency.