## 4 Discussion
### Taste  
The taste strips are an excellent clinical tool for taste assessment [30]. Taste dysfunction after middle ear surgery is said to be dependent on the degree of CT manipulation [30]. [PERSON] et al. (2015) presented the results of 30 tosclerosis patients whose taste assessment on both sides of the tongue revealed no changes in the taste scores on the contralateral side of the tongue and the declining taste scores on the operated side in the early postoperative period. They have found the improvement of taste scores 6 to 12 months after surgery and, unfortunately, did not collect the data about postoperative dysgeusia [31]. [PERSON] et al. found a significant change in the taste strip scores on the operated side in patients with the considerable manipulation of the CT nerve, with no significant differences in patients with minor manipulation or on the contralateral side of the tongue [30]. These results are consistent with ours since we have found statistically significant differences in the test strips scores for all tastes after the stages surgery.  
On the other hand, the taste scores on the control side remained unchanged throughout the follow-up period. In our study, the only patient with the sectioned nerve had lost all the taste sensitivity on the sectioned nerve side. Some authors found the possible preservation of taste during the whole-mouth testing, regardless of the CT manipulation, which is explained by releasing CT's inhibitory effect on the glossopharyngeal nerve [32; 33]. Regardless of the sectioning of the CT nerve, [PERSON] et al., 1970 [34] found the preserved ability to taste the acid in 43.5% of cases, which was explained by the possibility of acid fibers following a different pathway. To avoid the influence of other nerves, we have used the separate taste testing of both halves of the tongue, avoiding the tongue tip region, and instructed the patients to report the tastes felt with the tongue before swallowing the saliva.  
Some authors speculate that a part of the taste afferent fibers innervating the anterior part of the tongue may bypass the tympanic cavity [35] and lead to the preservation of taste function [31] after the middle ear surgery. Our study indicates that there are probably no afferent CT taste fibers that would be bypassing the tympanic cavity or innervating the contralateral side of the tongue as well.  
There are only a handful of studies exploring the characteristics of post-stapedectomy dysgeusia. Regarding a review of the stages surgery complications by [PERSON] et al., 2021 [36] the rate of postoperative dysgeusia is said to be 10%, with no detailed description of the dysgeusia type. [PERSON] et al. [37] found only 3/48 (6.25%) of patients having a subjective (no objective taste testing performed) persistent dysgeusia 6 months after endoscopic stages surgery, regardless of the preservation of the CT nerve. In microscopic surgical approaches, the percentage of dysgeusia is said to be even higher, up to 44.1% [38]. Regarding the postsurgical dysgeusia type, the most pronounced early postoperative changes were documented in a sweet and bitter taste, with the late recovery primarily of bitter taste [39]. Other studies found the most alterations in the sweet and salty taste qualities [40]. [PERSON] et al. [41] found taste impairment on the ipsilateral side of the tongue after 3 days and the improvement within 3 months of surgery, not explicitly concentrating on individual tastes. We have found that tapes surgery has a statistically significant impact on the presence of dysgeusia for sweet taste up to 1 month postoperatively.