Attempts to prevent dysgeusia through the prophylactic use of zinc sulfate or amifostine have been of limited benefit .
Nutritional counseling may be helpful to some patients in minimizing the symptoms of dysgeusia .
Conclusions Dysgeusia is a common oral side effect of cancer therapy ( radiotherapy , chemotherapy , or combined modality therapy ) and often impacts negatively on quality of life .
From the current literature , there does not appear to be a predictable way of preventing or treating dysgeusia
Purpose The purpose was to review relevant scientific papers written since 1989 which focused on the prevalence and management of  dysgeusia as an oral side effect of cancer treatment .
High-dose sequential chemotherapy with recombinant granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and repeated stem-cell support for inflammatory breast cancer patients: does impact on quality of life jeopardize feasibility and acceptability of treatment?
PURPOSE This study was design ed to investigate the quality of life ( QOL ) of patients enrolled onto the High-Dose Chemotherapy for Breast Cancer Study Group trial ( PEGASE 02 ) , a French pilot multicenter trial of the treatment of inflammatory breast cancer ( IBC ) aim ed at evaluating ( 1 ) toxicity and feasibility of sequential high-dose chemotherapy ( HDC ) with recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor ( filgrastim ) and stem-cell support and ( 2 ) response to HDC in terms of pathologic response and survival . PATIENTS AND METHODS QOL measures were performed at inclusion and four times subsequently up to 1 year using an ad hoc side-effect question naire ( 19 physical symptoms ) and the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality -of-Life Question naire ( EORTC QLQ-C30 ) . RESULTS Of the 95 patients entered , the overall QOL question naire completion compliance was 75.6 % . During cycle 3 of HDC , the number of symptoms was high ( mean + /- SD QOL score , 10 + /- 3 ) , with fatigue , hair loss , appetite loss , nausea , change in taste , vomiting , fever , and weight loss reported by more than 60 % of patients . Toxicity and distress associated with HDC were reflected in the decline of four EORTC QLQ-C30 scores : global QOL ( P = .001 ) , and physical , role , and social functioning ( P < .001 for all statistics ) . However , QOL deterioration disappeared after treatment completion , except for physical functioning ( P = .025 ) . One year after inclusion , most QOL scores returned to baseline , and both emotional functioning and global QOL scores were even higher than baseline ( P = .030 and P = .009 , respectively ) . CONCLUSION If it is confirmed that improvements in pathologic response rates with HDC effectively translate into increased probabilities of survival for IBC patients , adoption of such treatment as PEGASE 02 will not involve crucial choices between length of life and QOL and should not be delayed for QOL arguments
Attempts to prevent dysgeusia through the prophylactic use of zinc sulfate or amifostine have been of limited benefit .
Nutritional counseling may be helpful to some patients in minimizing the symptoms of dysgeusia .
Conclusions Dysgeusia is a common oral side effect of cancer therapy ( radiotherapy , chemotherapy , or combined modality therapy ) and often impacts negatively on quality of life .
From the current literature , there does not appear to be a predictable way of preventing or treating dysgeusia
Purpose The purpose was to review relevant scientific papers written since 1989 which focused on the prevalence and management of  dysgeusia as an oral side effect of cancer treatment .