Chorda tympani trauma--how much does it affect taste?

The chorda tympani nerve runs just beneath the tympanic membrane, and is often traumatised or sacrificed during middle ear surgery. There is varied opinion as to whether surgeons should preserve this nerve, risking trauma to it in the process, or cleanly sacrifice it, which some authors claim produces less trauma and less troubling dysgeusia. We studied 31 patients retrospectively to document their taste change following middle ear surgery, and found that in many instances, taste change caused by the operation recovered in the course of time. However, when the chorda was sacrificed, there was a 31% increased incidence of permanent taste change.