Ipsilateral disturbance of taste due to pontine haemorrhage

Abstract

A patient with haemorrhage in the right tegmentum of the pons demonstrated ipsilateral disturbance of taste on both the anterior two-thirds and posterior one-third of the tongue. The contralateral medial lemniscus was not disturbed, contrary to the early descriptions that the secondary gustatory neurons from the nucleus of the solitary tract cross and turn upwards in the pons through the contralateral medial lemniscus. This finding would accord with the concept of the pontine taste area which receives ipsilaterally the secondary gustatory neurons from the anterior pole of the nucleus of the solitary tract.