| Theme | Diseases of Alimentary Tract in Maintenance Dialysis Patients | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Taste disorder experienced by maintenance dialysis patients | |
| Publish Date | 2006/07 | |
| Author | Takayuki Toda | Department of Nephrology, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital |
| Author | Fumie Satou | Department of Nephrology, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital |
| Author | Tetsurou Fujii | Department of Nephrology, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital |
| Author | Noriaki Matsui | Department of Nephrology, Tsuchiura Kyodo General Hospital |
| [ Summary ] | It has been reported that zinc substitution therapy is effective for zinc deficiency related taste disorders and idiopathic taste disorders. When compared to healthy persons, serum zinc levels of hemodialysis patients are lower. Because there is a low level of zinc distribution in the serum, degradation of serum zinc values does not always lead to internal zinc deficiency. Medical treatment of taste disorders will progress through the development of a more useful zinc deficiency index. It has been reported that taste disorders are often present in maintenance hemodialysis patients, and subjective symptoms are usually mild. Taste disorders were often present in the cases we examined. We measured the cognition threshold of the chorda tympani area using a filter paper disc test. The cognition threshold measured the qualities of taste which were more common in three to five out of seventeen maintenance dialysis patients. The cognition threshold for sodium chloride which we examined by all oral cavity methods was higher than 0.625 % in four out of ten dialysis patients. The subjective advanced hypogeusia symptoms were found in only one case. |
|