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Phantageusia: The Presence of Taste Distortions Inhibited by Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS)
Author(s) -
Henkin Robert I,
Abdelmeguid Mona,
Knoppel Alexandra B,
Potolicchio Samuel J
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.30.1_supplement.227.5
Subject(s) - transcranial magnetic stimulation , stimulation , stimulus (psychology) , medicine , intensity (physics) , anesthesia , psychology , audiology , physics , quantum mechanics , psychotherapist
Phantageusia is an unpleasant, usually persistent obnoxious taste in the oral cavity which occurs in the absence of any oral stimulus and which affects many patients in the United States. It has been considered a type of sensory hallucination. It usually occurs after a pathological event such as an influenza‐like illness, head injury or Parkinson disease which causes loss of taste acuity. Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of brain in patients with this symptom revealed a lower than normal level of brain gamma‐aminobutyric acid (GABA). We have studied 30 patients with phantageusia and treated them with rTMS with 20 stimuli at intervals of 1–5 sec applied repeatedly first with sham stimulation to shoulder, neck and head at an intensity of 0.2 T and then with full stimulation to the head only at an intensity of 1.1 T. Quantitative changes in phantageusia presence was determined after both sham and active rTMS on a 0–100 scale with 100 indicating complete phantageusia inhibition and 0 indicating no change in distortion. Sham stimulation elicited no change in phantageusia or its intensity. rTMS inhibited phantageusia in 24 of the 30 patients with a mean intensity decrease of 49%, complete inhibition of phantageusia in four patients and 90% inhibition in two others. Repeat MRS in patients treated successfully demonstrated significant increases in brain GABA over the untreated state. Phantageusia inhibition commonly lasted months‐years without recurrence. In some patients repeat rTMS was necessary to inhibit phantageusia more effectively. rTMS is an effective method to inhibit phantageusia related to increases in brain GABA. Support or Funding Information None