Abstract
The frequency of taste disorders in idiopathic facial palsy (IFP) and B. burgdorferi-associated facial palsy (BFP) was retrospectively assessed in a cohort of patients with acute peripheral facial palsy (AFP). A significant (>10/μl) CSF pleocytosis was found in 17% of the patients who underwent lumbar puncture for AFP. In two centres, 26 patients with BFP were identified by CSF and serological criteria. The control group (patients with IFP) consisted of 59 patients from one of the centres in whom BFP was excluded by CSF examination. AFP patients of both centres are routinely questioned about taste disorders according to the hospitals’ standards. A taste disorder was found in 46% of the IFP and 31% of the BFP cases (not significant). About one-third of the BFP patients complained of radicular or back pain. We conclude that a history of taste disorder is not helpful in distinguishing clinically between BFP and IFP.
References
Angerer M, Pfadenhauer K, Stohr M (1993) Prognosis of facial palsy in Borrelia burgdorferi meningopolyradiculoneuritis. J Neurol 240:319–321
Hammers-Berggren S, Hansen K, Lebech AM, Karlsson M (1993) Borrelia burgdorferi-specific intrathecal antibody production in neuroborreliosis: a follow-up study. Neurology 43:169–175
Heckmann JG, Auff E, Bischoff C, Glocker FX, Lang P, Urban P, Weder B (2008) Idiopathische Fazialisparese (Bell’s palsy). In: Kommission “Leitlinien der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurologie” (ed) Leitlinien für Diagnostik und Therapie in der Neurologie. Stuttgart, New York, pp 547–553
Hufschmidt A, Müller-Felber W, Tzitiridou M, Fietzek UM, Haberl C, Heinen F (2008) Canalicular magnetic stimulation lacks specificity to differentiate idiopathic facial palsy from borreliosis in children. Eur J Paediatr Neurol 12:366–370
Kawamoto H, Ikeda M (2002) Evaluation of greater petrosal nerve function in patients with acute peripheral facial paralysis: comparison of soft palate electrogustometry and Schirmer’s tear test. Acta Otolaryngol Suppl 110–115
Landis BN, Leuchter I, San Millan RD, Lacroix JS, Landis T (2006) Transient hemiageusia in cerebrovascular lateral pontine lesions. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatr 77:680–683
May M, Schlaepfer WM (1975) Bell’s palsy and the chorda tympani nerve: a clinical and electron microscopic study. Laryngoscope 85:1957–1975
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Hufschmidt, A., Shabarin, V., Yakovlev-Leyendecker, O. et al. Prevalence of taste disorders in idiopathic and B. burgdorferi-associated facial palsy. J Neurol 256, 1750–1752 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5234-z
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-009-5234-z