NCT05272917

SOMESThesia and ALIMentation

SOMESThesia in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer: Variability and Influence on the ALIMentation Experience

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 72 (actual)
• Sponsor: Hospices Civils de Lyon · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Cancer patients are at high risk for undernutrition. A study with head and neck cancer patients showed that 50% suffered from undernutrition (Prevost et al., 2014). Sensory alterations may also involve sensory changes from the physiological structures of the mouth or neural pathways and hedonic changes, i.e., although food may taste the same as usual, that taste is no longer judged as pleasant. These changes lead to an aversion to food and a decrease in the pleasure of eating (Bernhardson et al., 2009). Despite the large number of published studies on taste and smell alterations in diverse cancer populations, few have examined other dimensions of oral sensory alterations. Studies focusing on somesthesia have mostly been conducted in the area of oral physiology or stomatology in relation to oral pain and rehabilitation (Howes, Wongsriruksa, Laughlin, Witchel, \& Miodownik, 2014). Regarding food perception, somesthesia provides information about both texture, temperature, and trigeminal sensations. These sensations are detected by mechanical, thermal, nociceptive receptors present throughout the oral epithelium (Simons \& Carstens, 2008). In addition to taste and smell, food perception is influenced by oral somatosensation and studies have demonstrated an interrelated relationship between these oral sensations (Spence, Piqueras-Fiszman 2016). Therefore, ther might have a correlation between oral somatosensation and food preferences, subsequently influencing eating behavior and food consumption. A standard method, using a so-called Von Frey Hair monofilament, to assess tactile sensation was developed by Etter et al. (Etter, N. M et al.,. J. Vis. Exp. 2020) but has so far been only minimally used in Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) cancer (Bearelly, Wang, \& Cheung, 2017; Bodin, Jäghagen, \& Isberg, 2004; Elfring, Boliek, Seikaly, Harris, \& Rieger, 2012). The aim of the study is to determine the variability and role of somatosensory perception (texture, pungency transmitted through the trigeminal system, and temperature) on food preferences in cancer patients compared to healthy volunteers.

Conditions

• Head and Neck Cancers

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	Sensorial tests	Patients will be included in the study between 3 to 6 months after the end of treatment and go to the Paul Bocuse Research Institute to perform several sensorial tests. The same sensorial tests will be completed by healthy volunteers to compare.
BEHAVIORAL	food preferences questionnaires	Patients will be included in the study between 3 to 6 months after the end of treatment and go at Institut Paul Bocuse to complete food preferences questionnaires. The same questionnaires will be completed by healthy volunteers to compare.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-05-20
• Primary completion: 2023-04-14
• Completion: 2023-04-14
• First posted: 2022-03-10
• Last updated: 2025-09-09

Locations

2 sites across 1 country: France