Many patients are treated using high doses of RT over large areas including dentition, oral mucosa, salivary glands, maxilla, and mandible. It can be delivered as a definitive treatment or as an adjuvant treatment after surgery. Radiotherapy (RT) is a major treatment modality for patients with head and neck cancer (HNC). By using Intensity-Modulated Proton Therapy in HNC patients, we anticipate preserving the taste sensation by reducing the dose of radiation to the taste buds. The physical properties of proton particle enable localization of the radiation dose precisely to the tumor and minimizing the exposure of the adjacent healthy tissues. Taste sensation being critically important for sustenance, we need to focus on ways to preserve it. Developing standardized tools for assessment of taste function and conducting prospective studies in larger population of HNC is the need of the hour. Furthermore, clinical research on radiotherapy-induced taste alterations has proven to be difficult, considering a lack of reliable and validated study tools for assessing objective and subjective outcomes. However, there are not many studies conducted to assess this commonly reported side effect. Majority of the head and neck cancer (HNC) patients undergoing radiotherapy suffer from altered taste function and often complain of inability to taste their food, reduced food intake, and weakness. Taste sensation is vital for a healthy body as it influences our food intake, acts as a defense mechanism and elicits pleasure.
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