|
|
The Taste and Smell Clinic (TASC) has an extensive,
centralized database of valuable clinical information relevant to the
diagnosis and management of taste and smell disorders and burning mouth
syndrome. This database maintains up to 2598 variables for each of 1800
comprehensively evaluated persons with these disorders. Questionnaire
data are also available for more than 3000 subjects who contacted the (TASC).
It is the largest centralized database of clinical chemosensory information
in the United States of
America. The Taste and Smell Clinic is the
nucleus of the Center. Patients travel to the TASC from all over the USA, and
sometimes from other countries, to be evaluated and contribute to research.
Essential data are gathered from procedures developed by the TASC and adopted
by other chemosensory centers.
The fundamental goal of this clinical center
is to advance the understanding of the causes and potential treatments of
chemosensory disorders through provision of: (1) meticulous and comprehensive
clinical and chemosensory data to scientific investigators; and (2) a forum
for interaction between clinical, basic science, data management, and
biostatistical experts. Chemosensory losses, phantom tastes and smells, and
burning mouth syndrome can adversely affect mental health and nutritional
status. Frequently, management of these disorders is greatly hindered by lack
of identifiable causation, and is therefore symptom-targeted rather than
causation-targeted. The multidisciplinary TASC database includes information
from many specialty fields in medicine and dentistry, and is therefore
uniquely positioned to clarify the diverse conditions likely to be causative
for chemosensory disorders. The clinical scientific team, comprised of
researchers with expertise in both their clinical fields and the chemosenses,
has also been successful in generating new therapeutic approaches to these
disorders, and in proposing means to prevent these disorders from occurring.
Proposed studies offer hope to many people who suffer with these neglected
disorders.
Go to Menu
|
