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Ageusia

Jordan I. Teitelbaum, FARS, DO Reviewed 04/2024
 


BASICS

  • Ageusia is an absence of the sense of taste.

    • Other taste disorders include hypogeusia (decreased ability to taste), dysgeusia (disordered ability to taste), and phantogeusia (perception of a pha...

DIAGNOSIS

HISTORY

  • Nature of symptoms (complete loss of taste? partial? loss of certain tastes? solids and/or liquids?)

  • Onset and duration

  • Precipitating events

    • Medications (new and old)

    • Recent infection (up...

TREATMENT

To treat the symptoms of hypogeusia and ageusia, the underlying cause must first be identified and treated. 

MEDICATION

  • Treatment of the underlying cause, which may require specific medication...

ONGOING CARE

FOLLOW-UP RECOMMENDATIONS

Patient Monitoring

Patient should be reassessed every 3 to 6 months. 

PROGNOSIS

  • Related to the cause

  • Taste may take 6 months to 1 year to return.

COMPLICATIONS

Permanen...

REFERENCES

1
CDC Symptoms of Coronavirus: cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html. Accessed July 18, 2021.
2
Fark  T, Hummel  C, Hähner  A, et al. Characteris...

ADDITIONAL READING

DeVere  R. Disorders of taste and smell. Continuum (Minneap Minn).  2017;23(2, Selected Topics in Outpatient Neurology):421–446. [View Abstract on OvidMedl...

CODES

ICD10

R43.2 Parageusia 

SNOMED

  • 36955009 Loss of taste (finding)

  • 698002002 Loss of taste anterior two thirds of tongue (finding)

  • 702531002 Loss of taste posterior one third of tongue (finding)

CLINICAL PEARLS

  • Ageusia is the absence of the sense of taste.

  • Loss of taste should be recognized as an early symptom of COVID-19 infection. Smell and taste disturbances in COVID-19 typically resolve in...

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