Data Show Substantial Taste Changes in Head and Neck Cancer Following RT

Noah S. Kalman, MD, MBA, spoke with CancerNetwork^® about findings from a prospective study presented at the 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) Annual Meeting showing significant changes in the ability to perceive taste among patients with head and neck cancer who undergo radiotherapy.

According to Kalman, a radiation oncologist specializing in the treatment of gynecologic, head and neck, thoracic and pediatric cancers, melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and sarcoma at Miami Cancer Institute of Baptist Health Medical Group, data collected via an objective Waterless Empirical Taste Test were consistent with anecdotal information from patients who reported experiences with taste changes following radiotherapy. Overall, taste test scores among this patient population tended to decrease over the course of their treatment.

In total, the relative percentage change in taste at the end of treatment was –16.89%. Specifically, relative changes at the end of treatment based on specific tastes included –9.8% for sweet, –27.03% for sour, –30.36% for salty, –14.88% for bitter, and –65.93% for umami.

Analysis indicated that relative taste changes at the end of therapy strongly correlated with mean tongue doses (Pearson coefficient [r]: –0.6; P <.05). Investigators also noted a moderate association between relative taste changes at this period and oral cavity mean dose (r: –0.54; P <.05).

Transcript:

For our patients undergoing head and neck radiation, we see that their ability to discriminate taste, and so their overall score on these taste tests, go down. This is very much expected. We receive this information anecdotally from our patients, and this is also how we use our subjective grading, and so [the study results are] consistent with that. Over the first 2 to 4 weeks, the patients’ taste decreases substantially, and that continues through the end of treatment. Then as we get past treatment, we have a taste test at the 3-month mark; at that point, these patients are starting to experience recovery of their taste.

Reference

Yarlagadda S, Alzmanzar A, Rubens M, Kalman N. Taste changes in patients receiving head and neck radiation – initial analysis from a prospective study. Presented at: 2024 American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting; September 29-October 2, 2024; Washington, DC. Abstract 3762.